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Cuticular permeance in relation to wax and cutin development along the growing barley (Hordeum vulgare) leaf

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Abstract

The developing leaf three of barley provides an excellent model system for the direct determination of relationships between amounts of waxes and cutin and cuticular permeance. Permeance of the cuticle was assessed via the time-course of uptake of either toluidine blue or 14C-labelled benzoic acid ([14C] BA) along the length of the developing leaf. Toluidine blue uptake only occurred within the region 0–25 mm from the point of leaf insertion (POLI). Resistance—the inverse of permeance—to uptake of [14C] BA was determined for four leaf regions and was lowest in the region 10–20 mm above POLI. At 20–30 and 50–60 mm above POLI, it increased by factors of 6 and a further 32, respectively. Above the point of emergence of leaf three from the sheath of leaf two, which was 76–80 mm above POLI, resistance was as high as at 50–60 mm above POLI. GC-FID/MS analyses of wax and cutin showed that: (1) the initial seven fold increase in cuticular resistance coincided with increase in cutin coverage and appearance of waxes; (2) the second, larger and final increase in cuticle resistance was accompanied by an increase in wax coverage, whereas cutin coverage remained unchanged; (3) cutin deposition in barley leaf epidermis occurred in parallel with cell elongation, whereas deposition of significant amounts of wax commenced as cells ceased to elongate.

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Abbreviations

BA:

Benzoic acid

FID:

Flame ionization detector

GC:

Gas chromatography

MS:

Mass spectrometry

PAR:

Photosynthetically active radiation

POE:

Point of emergence

POLI:

Point of leaf insertion

RH:

Relative humidity

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Grant 61/P18283 (to W.F.) and a studentship of the University of Paisley.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biological Sciences, University of Paisley, Paisley, PA1 2BE, Scotland, UK

    Andrew Richardson, Tobias Wojciechowski & Wieland Fricke

  2. Department of Ecophysiology, IZMB, University of Bonn, 53115, Bonn, Germany

    Rochus Franke & Lukas Schreiber

  3. Lancaster Environment Centre, Department of Biological Sciences, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK

    Gerhard Kerstiens

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK

    Mike Jarvis

  5. UCD School of Biology and Environmental Sciences, UCD Science Centre West, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Wieland Fricke

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  1. Andrew Richardson
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  2. Tobias Wojciechowski
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  3. Rochus Franke
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  4. Lukas Schreiber
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  5. Gerhard Kerstiens
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  7. Wieland Fricke
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Correspondence to Wieland Fricke.

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Richardson, A., Wojciechowski, T., Franke, R. et al. Cuticular permeance in relation to wax and cutin development along the growing barley (Hordeum vulgare) leaf. Planta 225, 1471–1481 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-006-0456-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-006-0456-0

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