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2. Polysaccharide synthases and glycosyl transferases

Synthases are defined as ‘processive’ glycosyl transferases that produce iterative linkages of a particular polysaccharide backbone. The Cellulose SynthaseA (CESA) genes are all suspected of synthesizing cellulose in somatic cells that exhibit multinet-type growth. The Cellulose-Synthase-Like (subclasses A through H) (CSL[A-H]) genes are based on the conserved D, DxD, D, QxxRW motifs of the CESA genes and are suspected to encode synthases of the backbones of non-cellulosic ?-linked polysaccharides, such as xyloglucan, glucomannan, xylans, etc. An exception may be the CSLD class, which may encode cellulose synthases of tip-growing cells. Several mutants have been identified in the CESA and CSLD classes, but heretofore, those of the other CSL[A-H] sub-classes have not unequivocally been linked to specific polymer synthases.

For more information on the CESA/CSL superfamily, see Todd Richmond and Chris Somerville’s web site.

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  2.1 Cellulose synthases
  2.2 Cellulose synthase-like Genes
  2.3 Glycosyl transferases
      2.3.1 GT family 8
      2.3.2 GT family 47
      2.3.3 GT family 37
      2.3.4 GT family 34
      2.3.5 GT family 31
  2.4 Callose synthase genes

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