Biophysical properties of plant surface waxes: Composition, morphology, responsive properties and functionality

植物表面蜡的生物物理特性：组成、形态、响应特性和功能

• 批准号: 1834908
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Bristol
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2016 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1834908
• 关键词: Biophysical; properties; plant; surface; waxes

Land plants have developed a continuous, thin, skin-like layer called a cuticle, a composite material with a framework made almost entirely of hydrocarbon polymers and lipid layers called `waxes'. These many component waxes create a membrane that coats the seed, acting a natural barrier with many functions, including protecting the plant from dangers and regulating water loss. The role that this protective barrier has is relatively unexplored and an understanding of the properties of seed surfaces is of great importance to the agricultural and food industries given the importance of food security. This work will investigate the compositional, morphological and functional properties of major crop grains and analyse how they arise. As shown in previous research, different seeds are seen to have contrasting surface properties, this project aims to investigate different seeds unique surface properties and wax chemical composition, and how they each contribute to the overall seed's functionality. Following investigation into the surfaces of native seeds, model systems are designed utilising chemical profiles of real seeds to determine the origins of the surface functionality.

陆地植物已经形成了一层连续的、薄的、像皮肤一样的层，称为角质层，这是一种复合材料，其框架几乎完全由碳氢化合物聚合物和脂层组成，称为“蜡”。这些多组分的蜡会形成一层覆盖种子的膜，起到天然屏障的作用，具有许多功能，包括保护植物免受危险和调节水分损失。这一保护性屏障的作用相对较少，鉴于粮食安全的重要性，对种子表面特性的了解对农业和食品工业非常重要。这项工作将调查主要农作物谷物的组成、形态和功能特性，并分析它们是如何产生的。正如之前的研究表明，不同的种子具有不同的表面属性，本项目旨在研究不同种子独特的表面属性和蜡化学成分，以及它们各自如何对种子的整体功能做出贡献。在对原生种子表面进行研究之后，设计了利用真实种子的化学特征来确定表面功能的起源的模型系统。