Changes in the cell wall of the pear during ripening

The cell wall is commonly regarded as an inert by hydrolysis) from pear cell wall. Pectic acid is background to the metabolism of the plant, known to consist, mainly, if not entirely, of galact- although it has been known from the time of uronic acid residues, and araban and galactan of Schulze (1892) that cell-wall polysaccharides are arabinose and galactose residues, respectively used as reserve food materials by many germinating The ripening of stored fruit is another Hirst & Jones, 1939). The only other sugar present instance of rapid physiological change in an isolated, in any amount, mannose, represented only a small non-assimilating tissue, and With the pear cell wall the found a rapid depletion of the hemicelluloses of the assumption seems justified that changes in the ripening banana. Similar but less drastic changes polysaccharide pattern of the cell wall can be have been reported for the pomaceous fruits by followed by analysing the mixture of sugars various authors In the present study these Kidd, West, Griffiths & Potter, 1940; Echevin, methods are applied to give complete analyses of the 1941).