Koch Kerstin, Bhushan Bharat, Ensikat Hans-Jürgen, Barthlott Wilhelm
Nees Institute for Biodiversity of Plants, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms, University of Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 170, 53115 Bonn, Germany.
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2009 May 13;367(1894):1673-88. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2009.0015.
The cuticles of plants provide a multifunctional interface between the plants and their environments. The cuticle, with its associated waxes, is a protective layer that minimizes water loss by transpiration and provides several functions, such as hydrophobicity, light reflection and absorption of harmful radiation. The self-healing of voids in the epicuticular wax layer has been studied in 17 living plants by atomic force microscopy (AFM), and the process of wax film formation is described. Two modes of wax film formation, a concentric layer formation and striped layer formation, were found, and the process of multilayer wax film formation is discussed. A new method for the preparation of small pieces of fresh, water-containing plant specimens for AFM investigations is introduced. The technique allows AFM investigations of several hours duration without significant shrinkage or lateral drift of the specimen. This research shows how plants refill voids in their surface wax layers by wax self-assembly and should be useful for the design of self-healing materials.
植物的角质层在植物与其环境之间提供了一个多功能界面。角质层及其相关蜡质是一层保护层，可最大限度地减少蒸腾作用造成的水分流失，并具有多种功能，如疏水性、光反射和有害辐射吸收。通过原子力显微镜（AFM）对17种活体植物表皮蜡层中的空隙自愈情况进行了研究，并描述了蜡膜形成过程。发现了两种蜡膜形成模式，即同心层形成和条纹层形成，并对多层蜡膜形成过程进行了讨论。介绍了一种制备用于AFM研究的新鲜、含水植物小样本的新方法。该技术允许进行长达数小时的AFM研究，而样本不会出现明显收缩或横向漂移。这项研究展示了植物如何通过蜡的自组装来填充其表面蜡层中的空隙，并且对自愈材料的设计应该是有用的。
