Correlations between epicuticular wax structures and chemical composition in Arabidopsis thaliana

The epicuticular waxes of vascular plants are both chemically and structurally diverse. This investigation attempts to clarify the poorly understood relationships between epicuticular wax chemicals and structures by correlating the diversity of chemical compositions and structures in wildtype and epicuticular wax mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana. An expanded classification of A. thaliana epicuticular wax structures was conducted preceding their quantification on 24 genotypes of A. thaliana. Correlations between all A. thaliana stem epicuticular wax chemical and structural categories showed that 19 of the 26 epicuticular wax compounds were significantly correlated to at least one of the six structural types. The chain-length distribution of an epicuticular wax profile was also found to be correlated to structural type: short chain-length compounds to dendritic structures and long chain-length compounds to umbrella structures. The 29-carbon-length alkane, ketone, and secondary alcohol are each correlated to the same four structures: horizontal structures, rods, tubes, and vertical plates. In addition, these three 29-carbon wax components and four structures make up a majority of the chemical and structural constituents on 19 of the 20 genotypes that possess structures.