Interaction with Biological Factors in the Environment

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 

Conidia from pathogenic fimgi that land on a plant surface carry low levels of cutinase to sense the contact with the host, and the cutin monomers generated upon contact of the conidia with the plant can be the inducers that allow the fungus to produce enough quantities of cutinase to gain access into the host (Fig. 12). This postulate was supported by many lines of evidence. Highly pa- 

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