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Cell wall is a specialized extracellular matrix (ECM) which surrounds every cell of plant, algae, fungi and bacteria. It gives some distinguishable characteristics to the plant cells comparatively to the animal cells. Specifically, the cell wall mainly serves as the mechanical and structural support to the cells. In addition, the cell wall has multitudinous functions such as, it gives mechanical protection to living cells in adverse environment, provide porous medium for the circulation of water mineral and nutrients, provide stable physical structure to cell and act as site of storage for regulatory molecules that sense the pathogenic microbes [1–3].

The cell walls of various organisms have different compositional structures. Such as, the algal cell wall is similar to that of plant cell wall and both contain specific polysaccharides which are helpful in their taxonomy. Similarly, the fungal cell wall completely lacks polysaccharides and contain chitin. On the other hand, bacterial cell wall is distinguished by the presence of peptidoglycan while archaea is lacking this chemical composition. Difference in the compositional structure of cell wall helps in the taxonomy and classification of these organisms. So, the current chapter is exclusively focusing on the cell wall polysaccharides of plant, algae, fungi, bacteria and archaea [4, 5].