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Revealing structure and shaping priorities in plant and fungal cell wall architecture via solid-state NMR

Summary

This review explains how scientists use a special type of microscopy called solid-state NMR to study the protective outer layers of fungi and plants. The research shows that fungal pathogens can cleverly rearrange their cell walls to resist antifungal medicines, and that plants carefully organize their cell walls during growth by forming specific connections between different molecules. Understanding these structures at the molecular level could help develop better antifungal treatments and improve how we use plant biomass for biofuels and materials.

Background

Plant and fungal cell walls are essential extracellular matrices that provide structural support and serve as dynamic barriers against stress. Understanding their molecular architecture is crucial for both clinical applications in antifungal therapy and biotechnological applications in biomass utilization. Solid-state NMR (ssNMR) has emerged as a powerful tool for analyzing intact biopolymers without disrupting their native organization.

Objective

This review aligns recent ssNMR studies with emerging priorities in fungal and plant cell wall research, highlighting how this technique reveals structural polymorphism, polymer-polymer interactions, and species-specific remodeling. The review focuses on two key advances: adaptive remodeling in fungal cell walls under antifungal treatment and temporal mapping of lignin-polysaccharide interactions during plant stem maturation.

Results

ssNMR revealed species-specific fungal cell wall remodeling strategies under antifungal stress: C. auris exhibits more pronounced dehydration and structural inertness compared to C. albicans under echinocandin treatment, while A. fumigatus undergoes complex multistep remodeling involving chitin, chitosan, and α-1,3-glucan reorganization. In plants, S-lignin selectively associates with acetylated xylan while G-lignin preferentially binds methylated pectin during lignification, demonstrating monomer-specific binding patterns.

Conclusion

ssNMR has become central to understanding how structural heterogeneity contributes to mechanical function, stress adaptation, and biomass recalcitrance in plant and fungal cell walls. The structural principles governing biopolymer assembly appear conserved across species, with ongoing advances in sensitivity and resolution expected to further accelerate ssNMR’s role in linking structural complexity to biological function and biosynthesis.
  • Published in:Cell Surface,
  • Study Type:Review,
  • Source: PMID: 41230029
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