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The A rabidopsis cer26 mutant, like the cer2 mutant, is specifically affected in the very long chain fatty acid elongation process
Author(s) -
Pascal Stéphanie,
Bernard Amélie,
Sorel Maud,
Pervent Marjorie,
Vile Denis,
Haslam Richard P.,
Napier Johnathan A.,
Lessire René,
Domergue Frédéric,
Joubès Jérôme
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the plant journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.058
H-Index - 269
eISSN - 1365-313X
pISSN - 0960-7412
DOI - 10.1111/tpj.12060
Subject(s) - wax , mutant , elongation , biochemistry , fatty acid , arabidopsis , transgene , ectopic expression , biology , gene , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , materials science , ultimate tensile strength , metallurgy
Summary Plant aerial organs are covered by cuticular waxes, which form a hydrophobic crystal layer that mainly serves as a waterproof barrier. Cuticular wax is a complex mixture of very long chain lipids deriving from fatty acids, predominantly of chain lengths from 26 to 34 carbons, which result from acyl‐CoA elongase activity. The biochemical mechanism of elongation is well characterized; however, little is known about the specific proteins involved in the elongation of compounds with more than 26 carbons available as precursors of wax synthesis. In this context, we characterized the three Arabidopsis genes of the CER 2‐like family: CER 2 , CER 26 and CER 26‐like . Expression pattern analysis showed that the three genes are differentially expressed in an organ‐ and tissue‐specific manner. Using individual T– DNA insertion mutants, together with a cer2 cer26 double mutant, we characterized the specific impact of the inactivation of the different genes on cuticular waxes. In particular, whereas the cer2 mutation impaired the production of wax components longer than 28 carbons, the cer26 mutant was found to be affected in the production of wax components longer than 30 carbons. The analysis of the acyl‐ C o A pool in the respective transgenic lines confirmed that inactivation of both genes specifically affects the fatty acid elongation process beyond 26 carbons. Furthermore, ectopic expression of CER 26 in transgenic plants demonstrates that CER 26 facilitates the elongation of the very long chain fatty acids of 30 carbons or more, with high tissular and substrate specificity.