Callose is a plant polysaccharide. It is composed of glucose residues linked together through β-1,3-linkages, and is termed a β-glucan. It is thought to be manufactured at the cell wall by callose synthases and is degraded by β-1,3-glucanases. It is laid down at plasmodesmata, at the cell plate during cytokinesis and during pollen development. It is produced in response to wounding, infection by pathogens., aluminium and abscisic acid. Deposits often appear on the sieve plates at the end of the growing season. Callose also forms immediately around the developing meiocytes and tetrads of sexually reproducing angiosperms but is not found in related apomictic taxa. Callose deposition at the cell wall has been suggested as an early marker for direct somatic embryogenesis from cortical and epidermal cells of Cichorium hybrids.