Ca- polygalacturonate as a model for a soil-rootinterface.II: Fibrillar structure and comparison with natural root mucilage

The transfer of nutrients from the soil to root cells is mediated by a mucilaginous interface composed predominantly of polysaccharides which are characterized by a fibrillar structure. A network of Ca-polygalacturonate was formed on garlic roots. This artificial network was compared with naturally formed mucilage structures using transmission (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The synthetic Ca-polygalacturonate could serve as a model for the study of the ionic transfer in the soil-root interface.