Building Blocks of the Protective Suberin Plant Polymer Self-Assemble into Lamellar Structures with Antibacterial Potential.

ABSTRACT: The protection of terrestrial plants from desiccation, mechanical injury, and pathogenic invasion is achieved by waxes and cutin polyesters on leaf and fruit surfaces as well as suberin polymers that are embedded in the cell walls of roots, but the physicochemical principles governing the organization of these biological composites remain incompletely understood. Despite the well-established enzymatic mediation of suberin formation in the skins of potato tubers, cork oak trees, and internal plant tissues, the additional possibility of self-assembly in this system was suggested by our serendipitous finding that solvent extracts from potato phellem tissues form suspended fibers and needles in the absence of such catalysts over a period of several weeks. In the current study, we investigated

SUBMITTER: Kligman A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8829861 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature