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Plants

Knitting a polyester skin

Nature Chemical Biology volume 8, pages 603–604 (2012)Cite this article

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The aerial surfaces of land plants are surrounded by cutin, a strong, lipid-based polymer assembled from glycerol and oxidized fatty acids. The first extracellular enzyme forming polyester linkages that are central to the assembly of cutin is now identified.

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Figure 1: Simplified view of the biosynthetic pathway of the cutin polyester in plants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fred Beisson is in the Service de Biologie Végétale et Microbiologie Environnementales, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives–Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique–Aix-Marseille Université, UMR 7265/LB3M, Cadarache, France.,

    Fred Beisson

  2. John Ohlrogge is in the Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.,

    John Ohlrogge

Authors
  1. Fred Beisson
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  2. John Ohlrogge
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Correspondence to Fred Beisson or John Ohlrogge.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Beisson, F., Ohlrogge, J. Knitting a polyester skin. Nat Chem Biol 8, 603–604 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1004

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