Increased content of very-long-chain fatty acids in the lipids of halophyte vegetative organs

Extraction and characterization of lipids from Sarcocornia ambigua meal: a halophyte biomass produced with shrimp farm effluent irrigation

“…The content of long-chain fatty acids in most seed oils and shoot tissues of edible plants is much lower than that observed in S. ambigua meal (Guil et al 1996, Dubois et al 1987, although it has been shown that plants from the Chenopodiaceae family (e.g. sugar beet, spinach) and salt-tolerant plants have a high content of C22 and C24 in their shoots and roots (Misra et al 1987, Imai et al 2004, Agoramoorthy et al 2007, Ivanova et al 2009). For example, the amount of behenic acid (C22:0) reported in shoots of S. europaea ranged from 1.2-2.5% (Guil et al 1996, Ivanova et al 2000, 2009 and for heneicosanoic acid (C21:1) reached up to 34.8% of the total lipids in Suaeda maritima leaves (Ivanova et al 2009).…”

“…The percentage of saturated lipids in S. ambigua meal is higher than that of vegetable oils with a MUFA nutritional profile (sensu Dubois et al 2007), presenting about 13.4 and 36.4% of total fatty acids, and including oils from rice, peanut, oat and Jatropha. S. ambigua meal saturated lipid values are also higher than those found in shoots of edible glycophytes, which have a value usually lower than 20% of the total lipids (Guil et al 1996), as follows: in fertile shoots of S. europaea (16.8-32.0%; Kulis et al 2010, Guil et al 1996, Ivanova et al 2009), in vegetative shoots of S. persica (20.7-21.4%) and S. fruticosa (22.3-25.0%) (Ventura et al 2011). Several authors highlighted the adaptive value for halophytes of high content of saturated lipids in decreased membrane permeability for Na + ions (Leach et al Ivanova et al 2000Ivanova et al , 2009, thus preventing the Na + intake into cells from the environment and also acting as osmotic barriers against the water loss and washing out of water-soluble nutrients and osmoregulators from the cytoplasm.…”

“…S. ambigua meal saturated lipid values are also higher than those found in shoots of edible glycophytes, which have a value usually lower than 20% of the total lipids (Guil et al 1996), as follows: in fertile shoots of S. europaea (16.8-32.0%; Kulis et al 2010, Guil et al 1996, Ivanova et al 2009), in vegetative shoots of S. persica (20.7-21.4%) and S. fruticosa (22.3-25.0%) (Ventura et al 2011). Several authors highlighted the adaptive value for halophytes of high content of saturated lipids in decreased membrane permeability for Na + ions (Leach et al Ivanova et al 2000Ivanova et al , 2009, thus preventing the Na + intake into cells from the environment and also acting as osmotic barriers against the water loss and washing out of water-soluble nutrients and osmoregulators from the cytoplasm. Additionally, high content of palmitic acid (56% of total fatty acids) in hexane leaf extract of the mangrove bush Excoecaria agallocha was related to antibacterial and antifungal activities observed against a total of 11 microorganisms (Agoramoorthy et al 2007).…”

“…The non-detection of linolenic-ω3 acid (18:3) Fifty six percent of the identified lipids in S. ambigua meal were saturated, and palmitic acid (C16:0) was the main fraction (19.8%). Part of this content comes from S. ambigua seeds that are rich in saturated fatty acids (D'Oca et al 2012), another significant part probably originated from C16:0 enriching phospholipids of cell membranes and glycerolipids of chloroplast membranes (Imai et al 2004, Ivanova et al 2009). The percentage of saturated lipids in S. ambigua meal is higher than that of vegetable oils with a MUFA nutritional profile (sensu Dubois et al 2007), presenting about 13.4 and 36.4% of total fatty acids, and including oils from rice, peanut, oat and Jatropha.…”

“…Sarcocornia perennis). Similar to their seeds, fatty acid composition of shoots of Salicornia and Sarcocornia species is dominated by polyunsaturated acids with 16 and 18 carbons, but a significant amount of saturated acids are also present (Imai et al 2004, Kulis et al 2010, Ventura et al 2011, and most of the lipids found in shoots are phospholipids (Ivanova et al 2000(Ivanova et al , 2009. EPAGRI (2008) reported the presence of β-sitosterol and stigmasterol in shoots of S. ambigua.…”