Measurement of pectin methylation in plant cell walls

A procedure was developed to measure the degree of pectin methylation in small samples of isolated cell walls from nonlignified plant tissues or pectin solutions. Galacturonic acid was determined colorimetrically with the 3,5-dimethylphenol reagent. Methylation was measured by base hydrolysis of galacturonic acid methyl esters, followed by gas chromatographic determination of released methanol. Estimates of the precision of analysis of pectin and cell wall samples were made. The coefficient of variation for estimates of the pectin esterification in cell walls isolated from 10-g samples of cucumber tissue ranged from 7.7 to 13.2%.