The necessity of creating the collection of wild relatives of fat and oil crops (WRFOC) of Kazakhstan is presented in the article. To achieve this an overview of international experience in studying the role of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) contained in plants was compiled. These PUFAs are essential fatty acids (EFA) entering the animals’ and humans’ bodies only with food. It is noted that countries possessing the marine wealth use marine fish for production of dietary supplements containing PUFA, but the plant world wealth should be also taken into account. In sufficient quantities EFAs are present in vegetable oils and in small quantities in animal tissues. The participation of EFAs in transcription regulation of certain genes was highlighted. Their role in development of animal and human organisms was noted. The role of the seed bank of Kazakhstan natural flora in ongoing work for creating the various plant species’ collections with great value for the country’s economy, in particular the WRFOC collection of Kazakhstan natural flora was emphasized. The rationale for financing and maintaining works (collecting and preserving seed material, studying seed behavior before and after storage, seed germinating, studying the chemical composition of different plants’ parts) for creating and research this collection is given.