Biochemical studies of lipid biosynthesis in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) mesocarp
2004
Umi Salamah R. | Abrizah O. | Ravigadevi S.
Fatty acid synthesis in plants occurs exclusively in the plastid. Although the enzymology of fatty acid synthesis in plants is well understood, little is known about how carbon flux through the pathway is regulated. We have studied the role of different biochemical factors that control fatty acid composition in the oil palm mesocarp. Our observations suggest that fatty acid composition of palm oil was not controlled by a single enzyme. At least two different enzymes namely β-ketoacyl formed per ACP synthase (KAS) II and palmitoyl ACP thioesterase control the levels of palmitate and oleate. Metabolic flux control analysis was applied to the oil palm previously mesocarp to examine distribution of control over carbon flux from acetate to fatty for acid biosynthesis and finally to complex lipid assembly via the Kennedy pathway. The rates of carbon incorporation from [14C]acetate to total lipid and acyl-CoAs pool were compared following specific enzyme inhibition to identify potential sites of regulation between fatty acid biosynthesis and the complex lipid assembly. By the use of top-down control analysis (TDCA), fatty acid biosynthesis has been shown to exert more control (about 60% of control) than complex lipid assembly under different experimental conditions. Nevertheless, our results also emphasized that approx. 40% of the total control resides in the complex lipid assembly reaction.
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