Characterization of xyloglucan glycosyltransferases in poplars for standing stems as land plants

Angiosperms became ecologically dominant only 90 million years ago much of the first 380 million years of land plant evolution was dominated by bryophytes and pteridophytes. The acquisition of hemicellulose synthesis capability is hypothesised to have been an important step in the evolution of higher plants. It is suggested that the acquisition of xyloglucan has been a pre-adaptive advantage for the colonization of land, based on difference between land plants and charophytes. Nevertheless, the glycosyltransferases (GTs) required for synthesis of their cell wall polysaccharides could be conserved between lower and higher plants. Here we characterized the expression of several xyloglucan glycosyltransferases of poplar stems, under repeating 15 min of vibrations with breaks of 15 min for 24 h.