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Development of the cuticular wax during growth of Kalanchoe daigremontiana (Hamet et Perr. de la Bathie) leaves
Author(s) -
VAN MAARSEVEEN CLARE,
HAN HONG,
JETTER REINHARD
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01901.x
Subject(s) - wax , kalanchoe , botany , biology , fatty acid , crassulaceae , chemistry , horticulture , biochemistry
The goal of the present study was to monitor cuticular wax accumulation during leaf development of Kalanchoe daigremontiana . Leaves expanded linearly until they were 40–60 d old. Wax coverages of leaves on the third node increased steadily during initial leaf development, from 6.5 µ g·cm −2 on day 22 to 15.3 µ g·cm −2 on day 53, and then levelled off. Triterpenoids dominated the wax mixture throughout leaf development, but decreased from 74 to 40–45% in mature leaves, while very long‐chain fatty acid (VLCFA) derivatives increased from 19 to 39–44%. The major VLCFA derivatives were alkanes, accompanied by fatty acids, primary alcohols, aldehydes and alkyl esters. In all compound classes, either C 34 or C 33 homologs predominated during leaf development. Eight different triterpenoids were identified, with glutinol constituting 70% of the fraction, and friedelin (20%) and germanicol (10%) as further major components of the young leaf wax. The glutinol percentage decreased, while the relative amounts of epifriedelanol and glutanol increased during development. Various leaf pairs upwards from the third node showed similar growth patterns and developmental time courses of cuticular wax amounts and composition. Based on these surface chemical analyses, the relative activities of biosynthetic pathways leading to various wax components can be assessed.