Calcium is an essential mineral nutrient for all living organisms including bacteria, animals, and plants. ... Combined with pectin, the "glue" that holds plant cells together, calcium forms a pectate salt that helps keep the cell walls sturdy and rigid.

What is calcium pectate in biology?

Abstract. Pectate (polygalacturonic acid) acts as a chelator to bind calcium and form cross-links that hold adjacent pectate polymers and thus plant cell walls together. When under tension from turgor pressure in the cell, the cross-links appear to distort and weaken.

What is pectate in biology?

: a salt or ester of a pectic acid.