Lipid characterization in vegetative tissues of high saturated fatty acid sunflower mutants.

Modifications of the fatty acid composition of plant vegetative tissues produce deficient plant growth. To determine the expression of the seed high-saturated sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) mutant character during the vegetative cycle, five sunflower mutant lines (three high-stearic and two high-palmitic) have been studied during their germination and vegetative cycle. No significant variations with regard to the control lines were observed in the mutant vegetative tissue lipids; however, during seed germination important differences between lines were found. Although in the early steps of germination the palmitic and stearic acid levels in the respective mutants seedling cotyledons continued being higher than those of the control lines, they decreased and reached values similar to the controls, except in CAS-3. Variations in the cotyledon palmitic acid content with regard to the control line were also observed in high-stearic mutants, suggesting the expression of a modified acyl-ACP thioesterase or recycling of seed fatty acids during seedling development.