Sporopollenin is a highly resistant organic polymer that makes up the outer wall of pollen grains and spores. It is very stable over geological timescales, allowing pollen recovered from sediments to be used for palynology research to study past plant and fungal populations. Sporopollenin's chemical inertness also makes it useful for drug delivery and detoxification applications by binding to toxins and chemicals. It has a complex structure and composition that allows it to take on these important functions in nature, medicine, and research.

1. Sporopollenin

2. • Sporopollenins are probably the most
resistant organic materials of direct
biological origin found in nature and in
geological samples. They are the
chemical component that make up the
outer wall of pollen grains, spores and
many related microorganisms.

3. • Sporopollenin is one of the most chemically inert
biological polymers.It is a major component of
the tough outer (exine) walls of plant spores and
pollen grains. It is chemically very stable and is
usually well preserved in soils and sediments. The
exine layer is often intricately sculptured in
species-specific patterns (see image at right),
allowing material recovered from (for example)
lake sediments to provide useful information
to palynologists about plant and fungal
populations in the past. Sporopollenin has found
uses in the field of paleoclimatology as well.

4. Etymologia
• John (1814) and Braconnot (1829).
• Zetzsche (1928) introduced the term
sporonin to describe the wall material
from spores of Lycopodium clavatum and
used the collective name sporopollenin to
describe the chemical substance present
in both pollen and spore walls.

5. • The chemical composition of sporopollenin is not exactly known,
due to its unusual chemical stability and resistance to degradation
by enzymes and strong chemical reagents. Analyses have revealed a
mixture of biopolymers, containing mainly long chain fatty acids,
phenyl propanoids, phenolics and traces of carotenoids. Tracer
experiments have shown that phenyl lanine is a major precursor,
but other carbon sources also contribute. It is likely that
sporopollenin derives from several precursors that are chemically
cross-linked to form a rigid structure.-*
electron microscopy shows that the tapetal cells that surround the
developing pollen grain in the anther have a highly
active secretory system containing lipophilic globules. These
globules are believed to contain sporopollenin precursors. Chemical
inhibitors of pollen development and many male sterile mutants
have effects on the secretion of these globules by the tapetal cells.

6. • Uses of sporopollenin

7. 1. In health care
one of its most
profound attributes
is that it is known
to have a fantastic
ability to act like a
sponge around
substances such as
pesticides, toxins,
chemicals and toxic
metals, soaking
them up and
binding them
together.

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Detox Foot Pads work on the same osmotic
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toxins from the bottom of the feet.
The new carbon-titanium adhesives are designed
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effectiveness. The foot is where most of the
nerves in the body end, making it the ideal location
to clean out toxins, chemicals, and toxic metals
which can be expelled through the sweat.

11. 2. To deliver drugs
• Pollen capsules that can be filled with nanomaterials could be used
for drug delivery, say scientists. Some plant pollens can cross the
gut wall where they are destroyed within the blood stream,
releasing their contents. This has led researchers to investigate
pollen as possible drug delivery vehicles.
• Vesselin Paunov at University of Hull, UK, and colleagues have
developed a way of filling pollen capsules with
nanomaterials. Paunov says the method will allow sporopollenin,
the material that makes up the outer layer of pollen, to be used in
pharmaceutical and cosmetic formulations. The researchers used
the sporopollenin capsules as chemical micro-reactors, adding
starting materials and then allowing a chemical reaction to generate
the product inside the pollen. Paunov's team used this method to
fill pollen capsules with organic, inorganic and magnetic
nanoparticles.

12. Sporopollenin microcapsules from Lycopodium
clavatum loaded with a range of inorganic and
organic nanomaterials

13. 3. Palynology
• Palynology is the study of plant pollen, spores
and certain microscopic plankton organisms
(collectively termed palynomorphs) in both living
and fossil form. Botanists use living pollen and
spores (actuopalynology) in the study of plant
relationships and evolution, while geologists
(palynologists) may use fossil pollen and spores
(paleopalynology) to study past environments,
stratigraphy (the analysis of strata or layered
rock) historical geology and paleontology.

16. Cross-section of the cell wall (structure) of a
pollen grain and a spore.
The structure of both Pteridophyte and Bryophyte spores is very
similar to pollen. They also possess a sporopollenin cell wall
consisting of several layers. The inner layers are the endospore
and exospore, the outer layer, which often "peels off" is the
perispore.

18. Pollen exine assembles into elaborate species-specific patterns.
Pollen grains of six plant species are shown.