title: Biophysical and biochemical characteristics of cutin, a plant barrier biopolymer.
abstract: Cutin is a support biopolyester involved in waterproofing the leaves and fruits of higher plants, regulating the flow of nutrients among various plant cells and organs, and minimizing the deleterious impact of pathogens. Despite the complexity and intractable nature of this biopolymer, significant progress in chemical composition, molecular architecture and, more recently, biosynthesis have been made in the past 10 years. This review is focused in the description of these advances and their physiological impacts to improve our knowledge on plant cutin, an unusual topic in most plant physiology and biochemistry books and reviews.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias, Grupo de Caracterización y Síntesis de Biopolímeros Vegetales, Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, Spain. heradia@uma.es
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heredia
mesh_terms: D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D035261:Plant Components, Aerial / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D019441:Plant Epidermis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D014885:Waxes / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D008563:Membrane Lipids; D011108:Polymers; D014885:Waxes; C000521:cutin