Cuticular Waxes and Its Application in Crop Improvement

Cuticle and cuticular waxes form the first level of barrier between the land plants and their external environment. This hydrophobic layer protects the plant tissues from excessive non-stomatal water loss, controls exchange of gases and solutes, conferring tolerance to enormous abiotic and biotic challenges. The cuticular waxes synthesized in epidermal cells is a complex mixture of very long-chain fatty acids, their esters, and derivatives. Its biosynthesis, transport, and deposition involve multiple genes and are tightly coordinated by complex molecular networks, which in turn is regulated in response to various environmental factors. Past few decades of research evidences from model as well as from non-model systems greatly expanded our understanding and knowledge of the genes involved in cuticular wax biosynthesis and its regulation in plants. This chapter briefly summarizes on the significance of cuticular waxes, its biosynthesis, transport, and deposition. Further, focus has been given toward the transcription factors identified in wax biosynthesis, its positive and negative regulators, and the targeted manipulation of cuticular wax biosynthesis in Arabidopsis and different crop plants resulted in tolerance toward adverse conditions.