E0018

Small Angle Neutron Scattering Studies of Cellulose and Squid Gladius. Paul Langan,^aYoshiharu Nishiyama,^b Ung-Jin Kim,^b Dae-Young Kim,^c Roland May,^d Rex Hjelm^e and Liz Turner^{f a}Bioscience Div., Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos NM 87544, USA, ^bSchool of Agriculture and Life Science, Univ. of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan, ^cCollege of Life Resource Science, Dongguk Univ., Seoul 100-715 Korea, ^dInsitutut Laue Langevin, Avenue des Martyrs, B.P. 156,38042 Grenoble Cedex 9,France, ^eLANSCE, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos NM 87544, USA, ^fTasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Holbart, Australia 700.

Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) studies have been carried out on cellulose fibers from ramie and Populus maximowiczii and from the chitinous gladius of giant common Architeuthis. The aim of the cellulose studies was to investigate the presence of periodic disorder along cellulose microfibrils in the cell walls of higher plants. The aim of the squid gladius studies was to investigate the ultra-structural arrangement of chitin and protein. These studies, their results, and the implication of these results will be described.