FRACTIONATION AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ARABINOGALACTAN-PROTEINS FROM THE CELL-WALL OF ROSE CELLS

Arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs) have been purified from Paul's Scarlet rose (Rosa sp.) cell walls. As estimated by gel permeation chromatography, the apparent molecular masses of the two major cell-wall AGP fractions were 130 and 242 kD. Since the 130-kD AGP had a ratio of arabinose/glucuronic acid that was 12 times higher than that of the 242-kD AGP, the fractions were named cell-waif AGP1 (CW-AGP1) and glucuronogalactan-protein (GGP), respectively. CW-AGP1 and GGP contained predominantly t-arabinofuranosyl residues; 3-linked, 6-linked, and 3,6-branched galactopyranosyl residues; and 4-linked and t-glucuronopyranosyl residues. The H-1-nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of CW-AGP1 and GGP showed that the arabinofuranosyl and galactopyranosyl residues were predominantly in alpha- and beta-anomeric configuration, respectively, and that GGP contained a few O-acetyl residues. The protein moieties of CW-AGP1 and GGP were both rich in hydroxyproline and alanine but differed in the percentage of various amino acids, including hydroxyproline, alanine, serine, and glycine. Cell-wall AGPs bound to (beta-D-glucosyl)(3) Yariv phenylglycoside, but the stoichiometry of binding was about 6 times greater in GGP than in other Rosa AGPs. GGP seems to be peculiar to the cell wall, since no similar molecule was found in the culture medium.