Cuticle chemistry drives the development of diffraction gratings on the surface of Hibiscus trionum petals

Edwige Moyroud; Chiara A Airoldi; Jordan Ferria; Chiara Giorio; Sarah S Steimer; Paula J Rudall; Christina J Prychid; Shannon Halliwell; Joseph F Walker; Sarah Robinson; Markus Kalberer; Beverley J Glover

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2022.10.065

Cuticle chemistry drives the development of diffraction gratings on the surface of Hibiscus trionum petals

Curr Biol. 2022 Dec 19;32(24):5323-5334.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.10.065. Epub 2022 Nov 23.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK; The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 47 Bateman Street, Cambridge CB2 1LR, UK; Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK.
³ Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK.
⁴ Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK; Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 27, 4056 Basel, Switzerland; Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
⁵ Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, UK.
⁶ The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 47 Bateman Street, Cambridge CB2 1LR, UK.
⁷ Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK; The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 47 Bateman Street, Cambridge CB2 1LR, UK.
⁸ Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK; Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 27, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
⁹ Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 36423640
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.10.065

Abstract

Plants combine both chemical and structural means to appear colorful. We now have an extensive understanding of the metabolic pathways used by flowering plants to synthesize pigments, but the mechanisms remain obscure whereby cells produce microscopic structures sufficiently regular to interfere with light and create an optical effect. Here, we combine transgenic approaches in a novel model system, Hibiscus trionum, with chemical analyses of the cuticle, both in transgenic lines and in different species of Hibiscus, to investigate the formation of a semi-ordered diffraction grating on the petal surface. We show that regulating both cuticle production and epidermal cell growth is insufficient to determine the type of cuticular pattern produced. Instead, the chemical composition of the cuticle plays a crucial role in restricting the formation of diffraction gratings to the pigmented region of the petal. This suggests that buckling, driven by spatiotemporal regulation of cuticle chemistry, could pattern the petal surface at the nanoscale.

Keywords: Hibiscus; cuticle patterning; diffraction gratings; mechanical buckling; petal development; plant epidermis; structural color.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Flowers* / physiology
Hibiscus* / physiology
Models, Biological

Grants and funding

BB/P001157/1/BB_/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom