Significance of laricinan in compression wood tracheids

SummaryAfter a β-D-1,3-linked glucan had been isolated from compression wood, identified, and named ‘laricinan’, other researchers suggested that it occupied the helical cavities in the S2 layer of those tracheids. They postulated that the glucan was responsible for the capacity of compression wood to generate the large forces associated with reorientation of displaced stems and branches, and also caused its severe shrinkage with drying.Analyses herein indicate that it is improbable that such a glucan could be the primary factor responsible for those characteristics of compression wood. An alternative significance is proposed, namely that its presence strengthens the already well-supported deduction that the helical cavities have a schizogenous origin.

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