By this invention, nucleic acid sequences encoding for fatty acyl-CoA:fatty alcohol acyltransferase (wax synthase) are provided, wherein said wax synthase is active in the formation of a wax ester from fatty alcohol and fatty acyl-CoA substrates. Of special interest are nucleic acid sequences obtainable from a jojoba embryo wax synthase having an apparent molecular mass of approximately 33 kD. Also considered are amino acid and nucleic acid sequences obtainable from wax synthase proteins and the use of such sequences to provide transgenic host cells capable of producing wax esters.