The Biopolymers Cutin and Suberin

Abstract

The aerial surfaces of vascular plants are covered with a continuous extracellular layer called the cuticle that overlays the cell wall of epidermal cells. The major structural component of the cuticle is cutin, a biopolyester mainly composed of interesterified hydroxy, and epoxy-hydroxy fatty acids with a chain length of 16 or/and 18 carbons (C 16 and C 18 class). Cutin is embedded and over-layered by intracuticular and epicuticular waxes, complex mixtures of hydrophobic material containing very long-chain fatty acids and their derivatives (chapter on waxes). The combination of cutin, waxes and possibly polysaccharides, forms the cuticle (Jeffree, 1996).