Fig. 1: In situ measurements of cellulose microfibrils and cellulose nanofibers in WT and Osfc16 mutant stem tissues.
a Dissection of plant cell walls for observation of cellulose microfibrils (CMFs) in situ in rice stem tissues in this study. From left to right, optical microscope view of plant cells in stem crosscutting slices, AFM observation of the cell wall, and AFM image of microfibrils in the innermost surface of plant cell wall. b Classic AFM topography of CMFs and cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) in plant cell walls after NaClO2 treatments at different concentrations. c Crude cellulose DP values by viscosity assay. Bar as means ± SD (n = 3 biologically independent samples); Significant differences between the WT and mutant were determined using two-tailed Student’s t-test: **P < 0.01. d Correlation analysis for cellulose DP by viscosity and GPC methods. ** As significant correlation at P < 0.01 level by two-tailed Spearman’s method (n = 8 data pairs by two DP measuring methods). e Classic AFM topography images highlighting breakpoints of CNFs after 16% NaClO2 treatments. Black arrows in the higher magnification inset panels indicate the breakpoints. f Cross profiles corresponding for black lines in e to illustrate alternate breakpoints for nanofibers lengths. NFL, nanofibers length, data as means ± SD (n = 100 nanofibers counted from three biologically independent samples). AFM experiments were repeated at least three times independently with similar results. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
