XVI International Botanical Congess

In situ hybridization analysis showed that CER3 gene of A. thaliana involved in wax biosynthesis, was highly expressed in different mitotically active tissues including mature seed embryos. Gas chromatography analysis showed that total fatty acid content in seeds of different cer3 mutants was 1.5-2.0 times higher than in wild-type seeds. At the same time we found notable changes in proportions of C18:1, C18:2, C18:3, C20:0, C22:0, and C22:1. Amino acid alignment search by BLAST and FASTA revealed a significant similarity of CER3 putative protein with ubiquitin -protein ligase E3 alpha from S. pombe, H. sapiens, and M. musculus. Basing on all these data, we propose that CER3 gene product may be involved in ubiquitin-related specific proteolytic cleavage of transcription factor or some other protein controlling partitioning of fatty acids metabolic pathways.