Gonzales-Vigil lab reveals cuticular waxes as producer of volatile compounds

The lab of Prof Eliana Gonzales-Vigil has released its findings on “Dynamic changes to the plant cuticle include the production of volatile cuticular wax–derived compounds” in the prestigious journal PNAS.

The article notes that “Cuticular waxes are widely regarded as physical defenses that provide passive protection to plants from the environment. [Our] findings challenge the existing view that waxes are unreactive, biosynthetic end products. Instead, we show that smaller lipids (termed “cuticular wax–derived compounds”) can be structurally encoded and released from larger cuticular wax precursors. This process could be exploited to engineer desired plant volatiles into wax intermediates for improved plant resilience.”

You can read more about this research from CSB graduates students Jeff Y Chen, Aswini Kuruparan and Mahbobeh Zamani-Babgohari in “Discovery about protective wax around plants might hold the key to developing stronger crops“.