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Metabolic Profiling And Polymer Formation Of Gene Silenced Potato Periderms, Qing Cai

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Suberin is a biopolyester constituent of specialized plant periderm tissues formed within the phellem cell walls. Suberin and waxes of the periderm layer act to prevent water diffusion, mechanical breakdown and pathogenic invasion in plants. Ferulic esters, ω-hydroxyacids and α,ω-fatty diacids are considered to be the most important linkage between aliphatic and aromatic suberin domains and also linked with cell-wall polysaccharides. The potato gene FHT (fatty ω- hydroxyacid/fatty alcohol hydroxycinnamoyl transferase) esterifies ferulic acid to suberin. Diminished levels of feruloyl transferase activity have been associated with lowered amounts of feruloyl esters of fatty acids in both suberin-associated waxes and suberin …