Half-Seed Analysis for Comparing Linolenic Acid Synthesis Between High and Low Oleic Acid Sunflower Inbred Lines

The modification of fatty acid composition of two sunflowers inbred lines, HA89 and R978, low oleic acid (normal) and high oleic acid (mutant) respectively, in seeds and during the first stages of growth (A1-B2) was studied under controlled conditions. Enzymatic mechanisms have great effect on the catabolism of seed stored lipids. Temperature and oxygen regulation influence developing sunflower seeds. For simultaneous study of seed and developing seed, half-seed analysis technique was used. The behavior of the fatty acids during the germination in cotyledon of seed showed the increase of linolenic acid in both lines, demonstrating the activity of linoleic acid desaturase (Ä6-desaturase). But linoleic acid as a substrate for linoleate desaturase increased during all stages of developing only in mutant line that revealed higher activity of oleic acid desaturase (Ä12-desaturase) in transforming oleic acid to linoleic acid in this line, and lower activity of this enzyme in low oleic acid line, the reasons probably being the low availability of substrate of this enzyme in low oleic acid line and the complexity of enzymatic mechanisms. The modification of fatty acids in developing sunflower, depends not only on ambient conditions such as temperature and oxygen regulation as described by many authors, but also on the genotype. © 2004, by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston. All rights reserved