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Plant cuticle

 
Plant Cuticle

 
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Plant cuticle
 
 
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Plant cuticles are a protective waxy covering produced only by the epidermal cells
Epidermis (botany)

The epidermis is a single-layered group of cells that covers plants leaf, flowers, roots and Plant stem. It forms a boundary between the plant and the external world....
  of leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
, young shoots and all other aerial plant organs without periderm. The cuticle tends to be thicker on the top of the leaf, but is not always thicker in xerophytic
Xerophyte

A xerophyte or xerophytic organism is a plant which is able to survive in an environment with little available water or moisture, usually in environments where potential evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation for all or part of the growing season....
 plants living in dry climates than in mesophytic
Mesophyte

Mesophytes are terrestrial plants which are adapted to neither a particularly dry nor particularly wet environment. An example of a mesophytic habitat would be a rural temperate meadow, which might contain Solidago, Trifolium, Leucanthemum vulgare, and Rosa multiflora....
 plants from wetter climates, despite a persistent myth to that effect.

The cuticle is composed of an insoluble cuticular membrane impregnated by and covered with soluble wax
Wax

Wax has traditionally referred to a substance that is secreted by bees and used by them in constructing their honeycombs.It is an imprecisely defined term generally understood to be a substance with properties similar to beeswax, namely...
es.






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Plant cuticles are a protective waxy covering produced only by the epidermal cells
Epidermis (botany)

The epidermis is a single-layered group of cells that covers plants leaf, flowers, roots and Plant stem. It forms a boundary between the plant and the external world....
  of leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
, young shoots and all other aerial plant organs without periderm. The cuticle tends to be thicker on the top of the leaf, but is not always thicker in xerophytic
Xerophyte

A xerophyte or xerophytic organism is a plant which is able to survive in an environment with little available water or moisture, usually in environments where potential evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation for all or part of the growing season....
 plants living in dry climates than in mesophytic
Mesophyte

Mesophytes are terrestrial plants which are adapted to neither a particularly dry nor particularly wet environment. An example of a mesophytic habitat would be a rural temperate meadow, which might contain Solidago, Trifolium, Leucanthemum vulgare, and Rosa multiflora....
 plants from wetter climates, despite a persistent myth to that effect.

The cuticle is composed of an insoluble cuticular membrane impregnated by and covered with soluble wax
Wax

Wax has traditionally referred to a substance that is secreted by bees and used by them in constructing their honeycombs.It is an imprecisely defined term generally understood to be a substance with properties similar to beeswax, namely...
es. Cutin
Cutin

Cutin is one of two waxy polymers that are the main components of the plant cuticle which covers all aerial surfaces of plants. The other major cuticle polymer, which is much more readily taphonomy, is cutan....
, a polyester
Polyester

Polyester is a category of polymers which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Although there are many polyesters, the term "polyester" as a specific material most commonly refers to polyethylene terephthalate ....
 polymer
Polymer

A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units typically connected by covalent chemical bonds. While polymer in popular usage suggests plastic, the term actually refers to a large class of natural and synthetic materials with a variety of properties....
 composed of inter-esterified straight-chain hydroxy acids which are cross-linked by ester
Ester

An ester is an often Aroma compound organic chemistry or partially organic compound formed by the reaction between an acid and an alcohol or aromatic alcohol with the elimination of water....
 and epoxide
Epoxide

An epoxide is a cyclic ether with only three ring atoms. This ring approximately is an equilateral triangle which makes it highly ring strain....
 bonds, is the best-known structural component of the cuticular membrane. The cuticle can also contain a non-saponifiable hydrocarbon
Hydrocarbon

In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. With relation to chemical terminology, aromatic hydrocarbons or arenes, alkanes, alkenes and alkyne-based compounds composed entirely of carbon or hydrogen are referred to as "pure" hydrocarbons, whereas other hydrocarbons with bonded com...
 polymer known as Cutan
Cutan

Cutan is one of two polymers which occur in the plant cuticle of some plants. The other and better-known polymer is Cutin. Cutan is believed to be a hydrocarbon polymer, whereas cutin is a polyester, but the structure and synthesis of cutan are not yet fully understood....
.Tegelaar, EW, et al. (1989) Scope and limitations of several pyrolysis methods in the structural elucidation of a macromolecular plant constituent in the leaf cuticle of Agave americana L., Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 15, 29-54 The cuticular membrane is impregnated with cuticular waxes and covered with epicuticular wax
Epicuticular wax

In botany, the plant cuticle is covered by epicuticular wax mainly consistingof straight-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons with a variety of substituted groups....
es, which are mixtures of hydrophobic aliphatic compound
Aliphatic compound

In organic chemistry, compounds composed of carbon and hydrogen are divided into two classes: aromatic compounds, which contain benzene rings or similar rings of atoms, and aliphatic compounds , which do not contain aromatic rings....
s, hydrocarbons with chain lengths typically in the range C16 to C36.

The plant cuticle is one of a series of innovations, together with stoma
Stoma

In botany, a stoma is a pore, found in the leaf and stem epidermis that is used forgas exchange. The pore is formed by a pair of specialized parenchyma cells known as guard cells which are responsible for regulating the size of the opening....
ta, xylem
Xylem

In vascular plants, xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue, phloem being the other. The word "xylem" is derived from classical Greek language ????? , "wood", and indeed the best known xylem tissue is wood, though it is found throughout the plant....
 and phloem
Phloem

In vascular plants, phloem is the living Biological tissue that carries organic nutrients , particularly sucrose, a sugar, to all parts of the plant where needed....
 and intercellular spaces in stem
Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaf, inflorescence , conifer cones or other stems etc....
 and later leaf
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 mesophyll tissue, that plants evolved more than 450 million years ago during the transition between life in water and life on land. Together, these features enabled plant shoots exploring aerial environments to conserve water by internalising the gas exchange surfaces, enclosing them in a waterproof membrane and providing a variable-aperture control mechanism, the stoma
Stoma

In botany, a stoma is a pore, found in the leaf and stem epidermis that is used forgas exchange. The pore is formed by a pair of specialized parenchyma cells known as guard cells which are responsible for regulating the size of the opening....
tal guard cells, which regulate the rates of transpiration and CO2 exchange.

In addition to its function as a permeability barrier for water and other molecules, the micro and nano-structure of the cuticle confer specialised surface properties that prevent contamination of plant tissues with external water, dirt and microorganisms. Many plants, such as the leaves of the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera
Nelumbo

Nelumbo is a genus of aquatic plants with large, showy, water lily-like flowers commonly known as lotus or sacred lotus. The generic name is derived from the Sinhalese language word Nelum....
) exhibit ultra-hydrophobic and self-cleaning properties that have been described by Barthlott and Neinhuis (1997). The lotus effect
Lotus effect

The Lotus effect refers to the very high water repellency exhibited by the leaves of the lotus flower .Dirt particles are picked up by water droplets due to a complex micro- and nanoscopic architecture of the surface which enables minimization of adhesion....
 has potential uses in biomimetic technical materials.

"The waxy sheet of cuticle also functions in defense, forming a physical barrier that resists penetration by virus particles, bacterial cells, and the spores or growing filaments of fungi".