The developmental pattern of tomato fruit wax accumulation and its impact on cuticular transpiration barrier properties: effects of a deficiency in a beta-ketoacyl-coenzyme A synthase (LeCER6).

Cuticular waxes play a pivotal role in limiting transpirational water loss across the primary plant surface. The astomatous fruits of the tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) 'MicroTom' and its lecer6 mutant, defective in a beta-ketoacyl-coenzyme A synthase, which is involved in very-long-chain fatty acid elongation, were analyzed with respect to cuticular wax load and composition. The developmental course of fruit ripening was followed.