Epicuticular wax variation in ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana.

Quantification of the epicuticular wax from the stems of 40 ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana showed a two-fold range in total wax load that was not correlated to known abiotic characteristics of the ecotype's origin of collection. Chemical analysis of these ecotypes revealed similar epicuticular wax profiles for all ecotypes except CT-1. In CT-1 the amount of 22 and 24 carbon length primary alcohols was increased by 16- and 8-fold, respectively, over that observed in the epicuticular wax averaged over all ecotypes.