Academic Journal
From molecules to field: Integrated insights into cuticle-mediated drought tolerance in plants.
| Τίτλος: | From molecules to field: Integrated insights into cuticle-mediated drought tolerance in plants. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Khan AA; School of Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China; Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Molecular Enzymology and Mechanism of Major Metabolic Diseases, College of Life Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, Anhui, PR China. Electronic address: amir_nku@hotmail.com., Iqbal B; School of Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China. Electronic address: babar@ujs.edu.cn., Akbar R; School of Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China. Electronic address: rasheed.akbar@uoh.edu.pk., Du D; Jingjiang College, School of Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China. Electronic address: ddl@ujs.edu.cn., Wang YF; School of Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China. Electronic address: yongfeng@ujs.edu.cn. |
| Πηγή: | Biotechnology advances [Biotechnol Adv] 2026 Jul-Aug; Vol. 89, pp. 108877. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Mar 28. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article; Review |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Elsevier Science Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 8403708 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1873-1899 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 07349750 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Biotechnol Adv Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: Oxford : Elsevier Science Original Publication: Oxford ; New York : Pergamon Press, c1983- |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Membrane Lipids*/metabolism , Membrane Lipids*/biosynthesis , Plants*/metabolism , Plants*/genetics , Drought Resistance* , Droughts*, Waxes/metabolism ; Plant Proteins/genetics ; Plant Proteins/metabolism ; Stress, Physiological ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant |
| Περίληψη: | Drought stress exacerbates non-stomatal water loss, which hinders agricultural growth and global food security. The cuticle, a layer of cutin, waxes, and other polymers, protects plants from the negative impact of drought. One crucial adaptation that has enabled terrestrial plants to survive and flourish in drought-prone regions is the development of cuticle structures. In this review, we (1) provide an overview of the molecular and enzymatic pathways involved in the biosynthesis of cutin and wax; (2) analyze important regulatory networks that control the formation of cuticles, such as abscisic acid (ABA) mediated signaling and transcription factors (SHN1/WIN1, MYB, NAC); (3) synthesis functional evidence of cuticle contributions to drought resilience across species; (4) evaluate how cuticle-related mutants and transgenic lines of genes such as ECERIFERUM1, Fatty Acyl-CoA Reductase 1 and Lipid Transfer Protein GPI-Anchored 22 (e.g., CER1, FAR1, LTPG22) change the composition of lipids and impact drought phenotypes; and (5) present lipidomic as a targeted phenotyping method to measure changes in very-long-chain alkanes, primary alcohols, and cutin monomers under water deficit. In Arabidopsis, camelina, cotton, rice, wheat, and turfgrass, we employ gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) for accurate detection and quantification of fatty acid content, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of lipid components to identify lipid-remodeling patterns that are consistent across all of these plants and are associated with drought tolerance and barrier integrity. Finally, we discuss how to create "drought-smart" crops by quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping, marker-assisted selection, CRISPR-Cas9 editing of KCS (3-ketoacyl-CoA synthase) and ERF (ethylene-responsive factor) genes, and overexpression approaches. This establishes the foundation for integrating cuticle biology with novel omics methods. (Copyright © 2026 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: ABA signaling; CRISPR-CAS9; Crops resilience; Cuticular wax biosynthesize; Drought tolerance; Lipidomic; Plant cuticle; QTLs; Transcription factors |
| Substance Nomenclature: | 54990-88-4 (cutin) 0 (Waxes) 0 (Membrane Lipids) 0 (Plant Proteins) |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260330 Date Completed: 20260714 Latest Revision: 20260714 |
| Update Code: | 20260714 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2026.108877 |
| PMID: | 41912054 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1873-1899 |
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| DOI: | 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2026.108877 |