Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (11) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gupta, N. S. Articles by Pancost, R. D. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Reinvestigation of the occurrence of cutan in plants: implications for the leaf fossil record

¹ Neal S. Gupta.* Organic Geochemistry Unit, Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, United Kingdom, and Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Queen's Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, United Kingdom
² Margaret E. Collinson. Department of Geology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United Kingdom. m.collinson{at}gl.rhul.ac.uk
³ Derek E. G. Briggs. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, Post Office Box 208109, New Haven, Connecticut 06520. derek.briggs{at}yale.edu
⁴ Richard P. Evershed and Richard D. Pancost. Organic Geochemistry Unit, Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, United Kingdom. R.P.Evershed{at}bristol.ac.uk, R.D.Pancost{at}bristol.ac.uk
⁵ Present address: Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, Post Office Box 208109, New Haven, Connecticut 06520. neal.gupta{at}yale.edu

Cutan, a resistant non-hydrolyzable aliphatic biopolymer, was first reported in the cuticle of Agave americana and has generally been considered ubiquitous in leaf cuticles along with the structural biopolyester cutin. Because leaves and cuticles in the fossil record almost always have an aliphatic composition, it was argued that selective preservation of cutan played an important role in leaf preservation. However, the analysis of leaves using chemical degradation techniques involving hydrolysis to test for the presence of cutan reveals that it is absent in 16 of 19 taxa (angiosperm and gymnosperm), including many previously reported to contain cutan on the basis of pyrolysis data. Cutan is clearly much less widespread in leaves than previously thought, and its presence or absence does not exert any major bias on the preservation of leaves in the fossil record. In the absence of cutan, other constituents—cutin, plant waxes, and internal plant lipids—are incorporated into the geomacromolecule and contribute to the formation of a resistant aliphatic polymer by in situ polymerization during diagenesis.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				N. S. GUPTA, O. E. TETLIE, D. E. G. BRIGGS, and R. D. PANCOST THE FOSSILIZATION OF EURYPTERIDS: A RESULT OF MOLECULAR TRANSFORMATION Palaios, July 1, 2007; 22(4): 439 - 447. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]