The diversity of plant surface structures, evolved over 460 million years, has led to a large variety of highly adapted functional structures. The plant cuticle provides structural and chemical ...modifications for surface wetting, ranging from superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic. In this paper, the structural basics of superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic plant surfaces and their biological functions are introduced. Wetting in plants is influenced by the sculptures of the cells and by the fine structure of the surfaces, such as folding of the cuticle, or by epicuticular waxes. Hierarchical structures in plant surfaces are shown and further types of plant surface structuring leading to superhydrophobicity and superhydrophilicity are presented. The existing and potential uses of superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic surfaces for self-cleaning, drag reduction during moving in water, capillary liquid transport and other biomimetic materials are shown.
An overview of plant surface structures and their evolution is presented. It combines surface chemistry and architecture with their functions and refers to possible biomimetic applications. Within ...some 3.5 billion years biological species evolved highly complex multifunctional surfaces for interacting with their environments: some 10 million living prototypes (i.e., estimated number of existing plants and animals) for engineers. The complexity of the hierarchical structures and their functionality in biological organisms surpasses all abiotic natural surfaces: even superhydrophobicity is restricted in nature to living organisms and was probably a key evolutionary step with the invasion of terrestrial habitats some 350–450 million years ago in plants and insects. Special attention should be paid to the fact that global environmental change implies a dramatic loss of species and with it the biological role models. Plants, the dominating group of organisms on our planet, are sessile organisms with large multifunctional surfaces and thus exhibit particular intriguing features. Superhydrophilicity and superhydrophobicity are focal points in this work. We estimate that superhydrophobic plant leaves (e.g., grasses) comprise in total an area of around 250 million km
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, which is about 50% of the total surface of our planet. A survey of structures and functions based on own examinations of almost 20,000 species is provided, for further references we refer to Barthlott et al. (Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A 374: 20160191,
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). A basic difference exists between aquatic non-vascular and land-living vascular plants; the latter exhibit a particular intriguing surface chemistry and architecture. The diversity of features is described in detail according to their hierarchical structural order. The first underlying and essential feature is the polymer cuticle superimposed by epicuticular wax and the curvature of single cells up to complex multicellular structures. A descriptive terminology for this diversity is provided. Simplified, the functions of plant surface characteristics may be grouped into six categories: (1) mechanical properties, (2) influence on reflection and absorption of spectral radiation, (3) reduction of water loss or increase of water uptake, moisture harvesting, (4) adhesion and non-adhesion (lotus effect, insect trapping), (5) drag and turbulence increase, or (6) air retention under water for drag reduction or gas exchange (Salvinia effect). This list is far from complete. A short overview of the history of bionics and the impressive spectrum of existing and anticipated biomimetic applications are provided. The major challenge for engineers and materials scientists, the durability of the fragile nanocoatings, is also discussed.
Superhydrophobic surfaces exhibit extreme water-repellent properties. These surfaces with high contact angle and low contact angle hysteresis also exhibit a self-cleaning effect and low drag for ...fluid flow. Certain plant leaves, such as lotus leaves, are known to be superhydrophobic and self-cleaning due to the hierarchical roughness of their leaf surfaces. The self-cleaning phenomenon is widely known as the 'lotus effect'. Superhydrophobic and self-cleaning surfaces can be produced by using roughness combined with hydrophobic coatings. In this paper, the effect of micro- and nanopatterned polymers on hydrophobicity is reviewed. Silicon surfaces patterned with pillars and deposited with a hydrophobic coating were studied to demonstrate how the effects of pitch value, droplet size and impact velocity influence the transition from a composite state to a wetted state. In order to fabricate hierarchical structures, a low-cost and flexible technique that involves replication of microstructures and self-assembly of hydrophobic waxes is described. The influence of micro-, nano- and hierarchical structures on superhydrophobicity is discussed by the investigation of static contact angle, contact angle hysteresis, droplet evaporation and propensity for air pocket formation. In addition, their influence on adhesive force as well as efficiency of self-cleaning is discussed.
The hierarchical structured surface of the lotus (Nelumbo nucifera, Gaertn.) leaf provides a model for the development of biomimetic self-cleaning surfaces. On these water-repellent surfaces, water ...droplets move easily at a low inclination of the leaf and collect dirt particles adhering to the leaf surface. Flat hydrophilic and hydrophobic, nanostructured, microstructured, and hierarchical structured superhydrophobic surfaces were fabricated, and a systematic study of wettability and adhesion properties was carried out. The influence of contact angle hysteresis on self-cleaning by water droplets was studied at different tilt angles (TA) of the specimen surfaces (3° for Lotus wax, 10° for n-hexatriacontane, as well as 45° for both types of surfaces). At 3° and 10° TA, no surfaces were cleaned by moving water applied onto the surfaces with nearly zero kinetic energy, but most particles were removed from hierarchical structured surfaces, and a certain amount of particles were captured between the asperities of the micro- and hierarchical structured surfaces. After an increase of the TA to 45° (larger than the tilt angles of all structured surfaces), as usually used for industrial self-cleaning tests, all nanostructured surfaces were cleaned by water droplets moving over the surfaces followed by hierarchical and microstructures. Droplets applied onto the surfaces with some pressure removed particles residues and led to self-cleaning by a combination of sliding and rolling droplets. Geometrical scale effects were responsible for superior performance of nanostructured surfaces.
More than 400 million years of evolution of land plants led to a high diversity of adapted surface structures. Superhydrophobic biological surfaces are of special interest for the development of ...biomimetic materials for self-cleaning, drag reduction, and energy conservation. The key innovation in superhydrophobic biological surfaces is hierarchical sculpturing. In plants, a hydrophobic wax coating creates water-repelling surfaces that in combination with two or more levels of sculpturing leads to superhydrophobicity. Hierarchical structuring is of special interest for technical “biomimetic” materials with low adhesion and self-cleaning properties. Here we introduce hierarchical surface sculptures of plants with up to six levels. The article gives an overview of the composition of hierarchical surfaces for superhydrophobicity and their use as models for the development of artificial self-cleaning or drag-reducing surfaces.
The chromosomal position of the centromere-specific histone H3 variant CENH3 (also called “CENP-A”) is the assembly site for the kinetochore complex of active centromeres. Any error in transcription, ...translation, modification, or incorporation can affect the ability to assemble intact CENH3 chromatin and can cause centromere inactivation Allshire RC, Karpen GH (2008)Nat Rev Genet9 (12):923–937. Here we show that a single-point amino acid exchange in the centromere-targeting domain of CENH3 leads to reduced centromere loading of CENH3 in barley, sugar beet, andArabidopsis thaliana. Haploids were obtained aftercenh3L130F-complementedcenh3-null mutant plants were crossed with wildtypeA. thaliana. In contrast, in a noncompeting situation (i.e., centromeres possessing only mutated or only wild-type CENH3), no uniparental chromosome elimination occurs during early embryogenesis. The high degree of evolutionary conservation of the identified mutation site offers promising opportunities for application in a wide range of crop species in which haploid technology is of interest.
Warming occurs in the Arctic twice as fast as the global average, which in turn leads to a large enhancement in terpenoid emissions from vegetation. Volatile terpenoids are the main class of biogenic ...volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that play crucial roles in atmospheric chemistry and climate. However, the biochemical mechanisms behind the temperature‐dependent increase in VOC emissions from subarctic ecosystems are largely unexplored. Using 13CO2‐labeling, we studied the origin of VOCs and the carbon (C) allocation under global warming in the soil–plant–atmosphere system of contrasting subarctic heath tundra vegetation communities characterized by dwarf shrubs of the genera Salix or Betula. The projected temperature rise of the subarctic summer by 5°C was realistically simulated in sophisticated climate chambers. VOC emissions strongly depended on the plant species composition of the heath tundra. Warming caused increased VOC emissions and significant changes in the pattern of volatiles toward more reactive hydrocarbons. The 13C was incorporated to varying degrees in different monoterpene and sesquiterpene isomers. We found that de novo monoterpene biosynthesis contributed to 40%–44% (Salix) and 60%–68% (Betula) of total monoterpene emissions under the current climate, and that warming increased the contribution to 50%–58% (Salix) and 87%–95% (Betula). Analyses of above‐ and belowground 12/13C showed shifts of C allocation in the plant–soil systems and negative effects of warming on C sequestration by lowering net ecosystem exchange of CO2 and increasing C loss as VOCs. This comprehensive analysis provides the scientific basis for mechanistically understanding the processes controlling terpenoid emissions, required for modeling VOC emissions from terrestrial ecosystems and predicting the future chemistry of the arctic atmosphere. By changing the chemical composition and loads of VOCs into the atmosphere, the current data indicate that global warming in the Arctic may have implications for regional and global climate and for the delicate tundra ecosystems.
We studied the origin of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbon (C) allocation under global warming in subarctic heath tundra ecosystem using isotope labeling of 13CO2. Our results show the importance of de novo monoterpene biosynthesis and the impact of warming in vegetation communities characterized by Salix spp. (willows) or Betula spp. (birch). Warming increased overall VOC emissions and altered the composition of the volatile blend toward more reactive compounds. Analyses of above‐ and belowground 12/13C suggest shifts of C allocation and negative effects of warming on C sequestration in these delicate tundra ecosystems.
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