Taxonomy of Pinus species based on the seed oil fatty acid compositions

Abstract

AbstractmThe fatty acid compositions of the seed oils from ten pine species have been established by capillary gasliquid chromatography of the methyl esters. With regard to either normal fatty acids or D5-olefinic acids, the general pattern of fatty acids did not differ from that of other pine seed oils reported previously. The main fatty acid was linoleic (9,12±18:2) acid (44.4±57.1%), followed by either oleic (9±18:1) acid (13.4±24.5%) or pinolenic (5,9,12±18:3) acid (1.5±25.2%). When applying multivariate analyses to the chemometric data (13 variables) of 49 pine species (ca. 40% of the living pine species), it was possible to distinguish between several sections: Pinea, Longifolia, Halepensis, Ponderosa-Banksiana, Sylvestris, and Cembra. The latter section was clearly divided into two sub-groups. A few species that presented a low overall content of D5-olefinic acids, and that grow in warm-temperate regions, were isolated from the bulk of other pine species. It is hypothesized that D5-olefinic acids might be related to cold-acclimation.

Structures, practical sources (gymnosperm seeds), gas-liquid chromatographic data (equivalent chain lengths), and mass spectrometric characteristics of all-cis Δ5-olefinic acids

“…On the contrary, they are the rule. This was observed in earlier and more recent systematic studies of gymnosperm leaf [28,29] and seed lipids [30], and for the latter, extended to practically all species analysed so far (approximately 170 species analysed by author Wolff and co-workers [26,27,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]). They also occur in wood [47][48][49][50][51][52] lipids, but the number of species analysed for these tissues is much more limited.…”

“…This profile may be used as a chemometric means for the taxonomy of conifer families and genera [33][34][35][44][45][46], that generally coincide with the same taxa characterised by botanical criteria. Though of apparent academic interest, this feature has practical implications in that it allows prediction of species in which a given category of ∆5-UPIFA is likely to be present, but unfortunately not systematically prediction of its abundance.…”

Fatty Acid Profile of New Zealand Grown Edible Pine Nuts (<i>Pinus</i> spp.)

“…Recently, such analysis has been applied to the taxonomy of conifers. The fatty acid composition of conifer seeds differs according to genus, subgenus, section, and subsection and thus can be used as a taxonomic marker [8] [15] [16].…”

Characteristics of Lipid Fatty Acids in Calli of Two Geographic Populations of Larix gmelinii

“…The lipids of larch calli from both populations contained small amounts (0.3-1.2%) of myristoleic (ë14:1∆5), palmitoleic (ë16:1∆7), and erucic acids (ë20:1∆11). Also identified in the polar and neutral lipid FAs of both populations were ë16:1∆9 and ë18:1∆11 acids, which were also found in small amounts in the chloroplast and seed lipids of various pine and larch species [12,21].…”

“…It is suggested that ∆ 5 -unsatur- ated FAs might be involved in the cold acclimation of plants [12]. An active usage of ∆ 5 -unsaturated FAs in the studies on chemosystematics and on the reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships between various taxa serves as an indirect evidence that these FAs play an important biological role in various coniferous plant species [17,21].…”