It was the botanist Ernst Munch, who separated the plant into two principal compartments, the "dead" apoplast and the living symplast. Only during the last 20 years cell walls attracted the interest of a broader group of plant scientists. We know today that apoplastic functions are much more diverse. The apoplast may be considered as "the internal physiological environment of plant bodies," that essentially maintains homeostasis. The term 'cell wall' may be misleading, since the chemical and physical properties of cell walls are not fixed but rapidly respond to environmental stimuli. This...

It was the botanist Ernst Munch, who separated the plant into two principal compartments, the "dead" apoplast and the living symplast. Only during the last 20 years cell walls attracted the interest of a broader group of plant scientists. We know today that apoplastic functions are much more diverse. The apoplast may be considered as "the internal physiological environment of plant bodies," that essentially maintains homeostasis. The term cell wall may be misleading, since the chemical and physical properties of cell walls are not fixed but rapidly respond to environmental stimuli. This is...