Suberin: From Genes to Function

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Plants protect themselves from the environment by coating their surfaces with water resilient materials. For example, a waxy cuticle that repels water covers leaves and needles and helps prevent fungi and bacteria from accessing the inner tissue. Similarly, trees form a thick bark, the cells of which are encrusted with a water resilient material named suberin. Suberin is also formed on the surfaces of roots and tubers, in the epidermis cells, where it helps maintain water balance and acts as a physical barrier to soil-borne disease organisms. In roots, another layer of cells, called the endodermis, also contains suberin. These cells act as the last physical barrier to water, nutrients and pathogens before they can enter the vascular tissue that distributes water and nutrients throughout the plant. Because if its importance in regulating water flow and restricting pathogen spread, suberin plays a major role in drought resistance and resistance to soil-borne disease agents. Previously we have shown that the amount of suberin in soybean roots is strongly correlated with field level disease resistance. My research program focuses on understanding the formation (biosynthesis) of suberin including the ways that plants control the amount of suberin that they formed. We are currently focusing on Fatty Acid w-Hydroxylase (FAwH) genes from both Solanum tuberosum (potato, a model for suberin biosynthesis) and Glycine max (soybean, a model for the role of suberin in pathogen resistance). This represents a progression from chemical, biochemical and metabolomic approaches to include a molecular biological approach. With a better understanding of how plants control the location and amount of suberin they form, we will be able to find ways to enhance this process in key agricultural crops thereby providing plants with enhanced natural defenses.