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Hemicellulose
Class of plant cell wall polysaccharides
A hemicellulose (also known as polyose) is one of a number of heteropolymers (matrix polysaccharides), such as arabinoxylans, present along with cellulose in almost all terrestrial plantcell walls.[1] Cellulose is crystalline, strong, and resistant to hydrolysis. Hemicelluloses are branched, shorter in length than cellulose, and also show a propensity to crystallize.[2] They can be hydrolyzed by dilute acid or base as well as a myriad of hemicellulase enzymes.