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A plant cuticle is a protecting film covering the outermost skin layer of leaves, young shoots and other aerial plant organs (aerial here meaning all plant parts not embedded in soil or other substrate) that have no periderm. The film consists of lipid and hydrocarbon polymers infused with wax, and is synthesized exclusively by the epidermal cells.
There is no one universal method to cuticle analysis. Rather, it is the shared principle on which the applications are based which underpins the methodology—namely, that a well-preserved plant cuticle can, through the use of microscopy, yield information regarding the nature of the plant from which it originated, including its species and the environmental stresses acting upon it.
A cuticle (/ ˈ k juː t ɪ k əl /), or cuticula, is any of a variety of tough but flexible, non-mineral outer coverings of an organism, or parts of an organism, that provide protection. Various types of "cuticle" are non- homologous , differing in their origin, structure, function, and chemical composition.
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 being cutan. It is an insoluble substance with waterproof quality. Cutin also harbors cuticular waxes, which assist in cuticle structure. [1]
The hardening of the cuticle is due to the presence of a polyphenol oxidase. [38] In crustaceans, there is a second oxidase activity leading to cuticle pigmentation . [ 39 ] There is apparently no polyphenol tanning occurring in arachnids cuticle.
Cutan is one of two waxy biopolymers which occur in the 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.
Non-vascular plants , with their different evolutionary background, tend to have separate terminology. Although plant morphology (the external form) is integrated with plant anatomy (the internal form), the former became the basis of the taxonomic description of plants that exists today, due to the few tools required to observe. [2] [3]
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