Polysaccharide composition of unlignified cell walls of pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.] fruit

Abstract

The polysaccharides of cell walls isolated from the fleshy, edible part of the fruit of the monocotyledon pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.] (family Bromeliaceae) were analyzed chemically. These cell walls were derived mostly from parenchyma cells and were shown histochemically to be unlignified, but they contained ester-linked ferulic acid. The analyses indicated that the noncellulosic polysaccharide composition of the cell walls was intermediate between that of unlignified cell walls of species of the monocotyledon family Poaceae (grasses and cereals) and that of unlignified cell walls of dicotyledons. Glucuronoarabinoxylans were the major non-cellulosic polysaccharides in the pineapple cell walls. Xyloglucans were also present, together with small amounts of pectic polysaccharides and glucomannans (or galactoglucomannans). The large amounts of glucuronoarabinoxylans and small amounts of pectic polysaccharides resemble the noncellulosic polysaccharide composition of the unlignified cell walls of the Poaceae. However, the absence of (1-->3,1-->4)-beta-glucans, the presence of relatively large amounts of xyloglucans, and the possible structure of the xyloglucans resemble the noncellulosic polysaccharide composition of the unlignified cell walls of dicotyledons.