PubMed · 2026-05-12
Scientists discovered that a single protein in ancient green algae can perform both chemical steps needed to make waxy hydrocarbons — a job that requires two separate proteins working as a team in modern land plants. This reveals how the protective wax coating found on plant surfaces likely evolved as life transitioned from water to land.
A single algal protein (CER1/3) in the microscopic green alga Ostreococcus tauri performs both enzymatic steps for hydrocarbon production that require two separate cooperating proteins in land plants.
CRISPR-Cas9 knockout experiments confirmed CER1/3 is essential for producing a specific fatty hydrocarbon (a C21:6 alkene) in Ostreococcus tauri.
In green algal genomes, the presence of the CER1/3 gene is inversely correlated with a different hydrocarbon-making enzyme, suggesting these are competing evolutionary strategies for producing surface hydrocarbons.