The storage lipids of seeds are packaged into lipid bodies, simple organelles containing a triacylglycerol core surrounded by a layer of phospholipids and proteins. A cDNA encoding the major protein from lipid bodies of maize (L3) was used as a hybridization probe to analyze the regulation of lipid body biosynthesis during seed development and germination. Immunofluorescent microscopy demonstrates that L3 protein accumulation is tissue-specific, confined to the embryo (scutellum and embryonic axis) and the aleurone layer of developing seed. Northern analyses show that L3 mRNA also accumulates to high levels in the embryo and is not found in any nonseed tissue. The steady-state level of L3 mRNA is developmentally regulated, increasing during early seed development and peaking at about the midpoint of seed development. It then decreases slowly, to 20% of the peak level, in the embryo of the mature seed and declines rapidly to undetectable levels as the seed germinates. The high level of L3 gene expression during seed development is not due to amplification of the L3 gene, since Southern analyses of maize genomic DNA indicate that the L3 gene has the same relatively low copy number throughout development (1-4 copies/haploid) genome). Rather, the increase in the steady-state level of L3 mRNA during seed development is transcriptionally regulated. The developmental changes in L3 mRNA levels are paralleled by changes in the transcription of the L3 gene, as measured by run-off transcription in isolated nuclei. The role of the plant growth regulator abscisic acid in regulating L3 gene expression was investigated. When the mature seed is allowed to imbibe in the presence of exogenous abscisic acid, germination is retarded, and the period of L3 gene expression is extended. The extended period of L3 gene expression in the presence of exogenous abscisic acid is due, at least in part, to a dramatic and specific increase in L3 gene transcription.