Laboratoire Reproduction et Développement des Plantes, Université de Lyon, CNRS, INRA, UCB Lyon 1, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, F-69342 Lyon, France.
University of Lausanne, Department of Plant Molecular Biology, Biophore Building, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
J Exp Bot. 2017 Nov 9;68(19):5307-5321. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erx313.
Cuticles, which are composed of a variety of aliphatic molecules, impregnate epidermal cell walls forming diffusion barriers that cover almost all the aerial surfaces in higher plants. In addition to revealing important roles for cuticles in protecting plants against water loss and other environmental stresses and aggressions, mutants with permeable cuticles show major defects in plant development, such as abnormal organ formation as well as altered seed germination and viability. However, understanding the mechanistic basis for these developmental defects represents a significant challenge due to the pleiotropic nature of phenotypes and the altered physiological status/viability of some mutant backgrounds. Here we discuss both the basis of developmental phenotypes associated with defects in cuticle function and mechanisms underlying developmental processes that implicate cuticle modification. Developmental abnormalities in cuticle mutants originate at early developmental time points, when cuticle composition and properties are very difficult to measure. Nonetheless, we aim to extract principles from existing data in order to pinpoint the key cuticle components and properties required for normal plant development. Based on our analysis, we will highlight several major questions that need to be addressed and technical hurdles that need to be overcome in order to advance our current understanding of the developmental importance of plant cuticles.
表皮是由多种脂肪族分子组成的，它浸渍在表皮细胞壁中，形成扩散屏障，几乎覆盖了高等植物所有的气生表面。表皮除了在保护植物免受水分流失和其他环境压力和侵害方面发挥着重要作用外，角质层通透性突变体在植物发育方面也表现出主要缺陷，如器官形成异常以及种子萌发和活力改变。然而，由于表型的多效性和某些突变体背景下生理状态/活力的改变，理解这些发育缺陷的机制基础仍然是一个巨大的挑战。在这里，我们讨论了与角质层功能缺陷相关的发育表型的基础以及涉及角质层修饰的发育过程的机制。在角质层突变体中，发育异常始于早期发育阶段，此时角质层的组成和性质非常难以测量。尽管如此，我们还是试图从现有数据中提取原理，以确定正常植物发育所需的关键角质层成分和特性。基于我们的分析，我们将突出强调几个需要解决的主要问题和需要克服的技术障碍，以推进我们目前对植物角质层发育重要性的理解。
