Plant cuticle

Deising, H., Nicholson, R. L., Haug, M., Howard, R. J., and Mendgen, K., 1992, Adhesion pad formation and the involvement of surface localized cutinase and esterase in the attachment of Uredospores to the host cuticle, Plant Cell 4 1101-1111. 

McFarlane JC, Berry WE (1974) Cation penetration through isolated leaf cuticles. Plant Phys 53 723-727... 

Piringer, A.A. and Heinze, P.H., Effect of light on the formation of a pigment in the tomato fruit cuticle. Plant Physiol, 29, 467, 1954. 

It would seem, therefore, that particularly with oil- and wax-soluble insecticides the older concepts of surface residues on plant tissues should be revised in terms of extrasurface—i.e., above the cuticle—and subsurface—i.e., within or below the cuticle— residues. The latter would in turn be subdivided into cuticular residues and various intracarp residues. 

Fig. 7 Overview of the partitioning among the liquid, solid and/or gas phases of individual compartments [8], Note In the current version of CalTOX (CalTOX4), the plant compartment comprises two sub-compartments [plant surfaces (cuticle) and plant leaf biomass (leaves)]...

A comparison of Tables I and II shows that the major coal measures of the world were derived from several quite different floristic assemblages. Thus the plants that gave rise to coals in Europe and the east and midwest of North America in the Carboniferous were part of a complex flora that included ferns, seed ferns, horsetails, lycopods and conifer precursors. Except for the conifer precursors, lignified xylem tissues tended to be minimal in these plant groups and unusually large leaves with extensive waxy cuticles were characteristic of three of the groups. 

A. agrostis (funesta) (a tylenchid) is unable to use C. toxicus as a food source, but this same bacterium has the capacity to adhere to the surface of the Anguina cuticle (Fig. 8.5) and, as mentioned above, be carried by the nematode into the plant, where it can continue its development at... 

Plants were probably the first to have polyester outerwear, as the aerial parts of higher plants are covered with a cuticle whose structural component is a polyester called cutin. Even plants that live under water in the oceans, such as Zoestra marina, are covered with cutin. This lipid-derived polyester covering is unique to plants, as animals use carbohydrate or protein polymers as their outer covering. Cutin, the insoluble cuticular polymer of plants, is composed of inter-esterified hydroxy and hydroxy epoxy fatty acids derived from the common cellular fatty acids and is attached to the outer epidermal layer of cells by a pectinaceous layer (Fig. 1). The insoluble polymer is embedded in a complex mixture of soluble lipids collectively called waxes [1], Electron microscopic examination of the cuticle usually shows an amorphous appearance but in some plants the cuticle has a lamellar appearance (Fig. 2). 

The major function of cutin is to serve as the structural component of the outer barrier of plants. As the major component of the cuticle it plays a major role in the interaction of the plant with its environment. Development of the cuticle is thought to be responsible for the ability of plants to move onto land where the cuticle limits diffusion of moisture and thus prevents desiccation [141]. The plant cuticle controls the exchange of matter between leaf and atmosphere. The transport properties of the cuticle strongly influences the loss of water and solutes from the leaf interior as well as uptake of nonvolatile chemicals from the atmosphere to the leaf surface. In the absence of stomata the cuticle controls gas exchange. The cuticle as a transport-limiting barrier is important in its physiological and ecological functions. The diffusion across plant cuticle follows basic laws of passive diffusion across lipophylic membranes [142]. Isolated cuticular membranes have been used to study this permeability and the results obtained appear to be valid... 

The cuticle, often being the first contact point with environmental microbes, probably plays a highly significant role in the interaction of the plant with microorganisms (Fig. 11). It can provide the carbon source for the growth of... 

Fig. 11. Hypothetical scheme of the molecular events in the early stages of fungal interactions with plant cuticle, chip = Colletotrichum hard surface induced protein cap = Colletotrichum appressorium genes...

Fig. 12. Schematic representation of how the plant cuticle induces cutinase in a fungal spore... 

The major site of occurrence of polyesters in plants is the cuticle where the insoluble polymer constitutes a major barrier. This material present in the skin of fruit constitutes a significant part of the waste produced in fruit processing. The very large quantities of the cutin-rich agricultural wastes that are produced may be a source of high value polyesters. Since the insoluble polymer is relatively re-... 

Kerstiens G (ed) (1996) Plant cuticles an integrated functional approach. BIOS Scientific Publishers, Oxford UK... 

Holloway PJ (1982) The chemical constitution of plant cutins. In Cutler DF, Alvin KL, Price CE (eds) The plant cuticle. Academic Press, London, p 45... 

Edwards D, Abbott GD, Raven JA (1996) Cuticles of early land plants a palaeoecophy-siological evaluation. In Kerstiens G (ed) Plant cuticles an integrated functional approach. BIOS Scientific Publishers, Oxford UK, chap 1... 

Rieder M, Schreiber L (1995) Waxes the transport barriers of plant cuticles. In Hamilton RJ (ed) Waxes chemistry, molecular biology and functions. The Oily Press,... 

The aliphatic components of SOM, derived from various sources, tend to persist in soil (Almendros et al. 1998 Lichtfouse et al. 1998a Lichtfouse et al. 1998b Mosle et al. 1999 Poirier et al. 2000). The principal source of aliphatic materials in soil is plant cuticular materials, especially cutin, an insoluble polyester of cross-linked hydroxy-fatty acids and hydroxy epoxy-fatty acids (Kolattukudy 2001). Some plant cuticles also contain an acid and base hydrolysis-resistant biopolymer, comprised of aliphatic chains attached to aromatic cores known as cutan (Tegelaar et al. 1989 McKinney et al. 1996 Chefetz 2003 Sachleben et al. 2004). 

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