The glucose-based polymer cellulose is of great biological and economical importance; however, little is known about how cellulose is synthesized. Now, structural estimates of one of the cellulose-synthesizing subunits in the bacterium Acetobacter xylinum help to explain the extrusion of the newly synthesized glucan chains.
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Endler, A., Sánchez-Rodríguez, C. & Persson, S. Cellulose squeezes through. Nat Chem Biol 6, 883–884 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.480
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.480
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