Biology Special Seminar - Dr. Owen Rowland

Suberin: The Regulated Deposition of a Protective Biopolymer in Plants

Plants have protective lipid-based barriers that modify the cell walls of tissue layers located at environmental interfaces.  Suberin is a multi-layered polymer consisting of glycerol, phenolics, and a wide variety of fatty acid derivatives.  As a hydrophobic barrier, suberin controls the movement of water, solutes, and gases. It also serves to protect against stresses such as drought, high salt, toxic metals and pathogens. The identification of master regulators of suberin provides the means to generate crops that are more stress resistant via enhancement of their suberized cell walls.