Critical preliminary considerations for a new theory on microfibril orientation

Abstract

The series of analyses herein have indicated that the structurally-effective and efficient microfibril arrangements, which develop in the cell walls of a range of different plants, are neither direct nor passive consequences of the extension growth of the cells of the several types considered. Therefore a better understanding of determinants, of the various arrangements of microfibrils in cell walls, would seem to depend on identification of the basic principles and biophysics involved in controlling or stimulating microfibril formation at specific orientations.