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JXB Advance Access published online on February 13, 2004
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/erh077
© 2004 by Oxford University Press
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Received September 3, 2003; accepted December 2, 2003
© 2004 Society for Experimental Biology

Research paper

Self assembly of epicuticular waxes on living plant surfaces imaged by atomic force microscopy (AFM)

Kerstin Koch 1*, Christoph Neinhuis 2, Hans-Jürgen Ensikat 1, and Wilhelm Barthlott 1

1 Nees-Institut für Biodiversität der Pflanzen, Universität Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 170, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
2 Institut für Botanik, Technische Universität Dresden, Zellescher Weg 22, D-01062 Dresden, Germany

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: koch{at}uni-bonn.de.


  Abstract

The cuticle of terrestrial vascular plants and some bryophytes is covered with a complex mixture of lipids, usually called epicuticular waxes. Self-assembly processes of wax molecules lead to crystalline three-dimensional micro- and nanostructures that emerge from an underlying wax film. This paper presents the first AFM study on wax regeneration on the surfaces of living plants and the very early stages of wax crystal formation at the molecular level. Wax formation was analysed on the leaves of Euphorbia lathyris, Galanthus nivalis, and Ipheion uniflorum. Immediately after wax removal, regeneration of a wax film began, consisting of individual layers of, typically, 3-5 nm thickness. Subsequently, several different stages of crystal growth could be distinguished, and different patterns of wax regeneration as well as considerable variation in regeneration speed were found.

Key words: Atomic force microscopy (AFM), crystallization, epicuticular waxes, nanostructures, regeneration, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), self assembly.


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