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. 1989 Jul;90(3):943–947. doi: 10.1104/pp.90.3.943

A Mutant of Arabidopsis Deficient in Desaturation of Palmitic Acid in Leaf Lipids 1

Ljerka Kunst 1,2, John Browse 1,2, Chris Somerville 1,2
PMCID: PMC1061825  PMID: 16666902

Abstract

The overall fatty acid composition of leaf lipids in a mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana was characterized by elevated amounts of palmitic acid and a decreased amount of unsaturated 16-carbon fatty acids as a consequence of a single nuclear mutation. Quantitative analysis of the fatty acid composition of individual lipids suggested that the mutant is deficient in the activity of a chloroplast ω9 fatty acid desaturase which normally introduces a double bond in 16-carbon acyl chains esterified to monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGD). The mutant exhibited an increased ratio of 18- to 16-carbon fatty acids in MGD due to a change in the relative contribution of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic pathways of lipid biosynthesis. This appears to be a regulated response to the loss of chloroplast ω9 desaturase and presumably reflects a requirement for polyunsaturated fatty acids for the normal assembly of chloroplast membranes. The reduction in mass of prokaryotic MGD species involved both a reduction in synthesis of MGD by the prokaryotic pathway and increased turnover of MGD molecular species which contain 16:0.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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