Abstract: Plant cell wall is the main source of dietary fiber for humans, which affects the taste of and nutrition absorption from plant-derived food products. The cell wall components are complex, and hence there are certain difficulties in exploring its structure. Bacterial cellulose produced by Komagataeibacter xylinus can form composites with various cell wall polysaccharides that can be used to establish plant cell wall models. The advantages of this model include: 1) high purity, 2) feasible characterization of its macro-mechanical and rheological properties and 3) its self-assembly process is similar to the formation of plant cell wall. The plant cell wall model based on bacterial cellulose has been used to study the structures and interactions of cell wall polysaccharides, and also has been applied to theoretical studies in the field of food science such as investigating dietary fiber digestion characteristics and cell wall adsorption of polyphenols. These studies are of great importance for understanding the process of human digestion, and are also valuable for the development of high-quality plant food products. This paper briefly summarizes the composition and structure of plant cell wall, and provides a detailed review of bacterial cellulose and recent advances in its application in the theoretical research of plant food raw materials.

Key words: plant cell wall; bacterial cellulose; hemicellulose; pectin; raw materials for plant foods