Regulação da biossíntese de ácidos graxos insaturados durante a ontogenia de sementes de soja / Regulation of the unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis during the ontogeny of soybean seeds

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2008

RESUMO

The fatty acid composition of soybean seeds has a direct impact on its oxidative stability. High levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic and linolenic acids make the oil more susceptible to hydrolytic and oxidative degradation leading to the formation of volatile compounds which alter the quality and flavor of foods. For this reason, there is a world demand for oils with high content of monounsaturated fatty acids and reduced levels of linolenic acid. The regulation of the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway in soybean seeds possibly involves transcriptional and post- transcriptional control of the w-6 and w-3 desaturases. However, the precise control mechanism is not known. The present work is part of the Breeding Program for Soybean Quality developed at BIOAGRO/UFV and its main goal is to determine the mRNA levels of the main desaturases during the development of soybean seeds, and to correlate them with the fatty acid levels and the enzymatic activities in different genotypes during seed filling. The following genotypes were used: A29, low linolenic acid content (~1%); FA22, high oleic content (~50%); N85-2176, low linolenic acid content (~3%) and medium oleic acid content (~30%); and Tucunaré, commercial cultivar with normal contents of oleic (~19%) and linolenic acids (~8%). The seeds were divided into five stages according to their fresh weight: 1st (0-125 mg); 2nd (126- 250 mg); 3rd (251-375 mg), 4th (376-450 mg) and 5th (dry seed). The following parameters were determined: fatty acid content; total oil content; relative enzymatic activities of w- 6 and w-3-desaturases; mRNA levels of FAD2-1 and FAD2-2 genes which encode the w-6-desaturases, and of genes GmFAD3A, GmFAD3B and GmFAD3C, which encode the w-3- desaturases. The results show that the oleic acid content increased between the 1st and 4th stages and reduced after that. The genotype FA22, followed by N85-2176, presented the highest oleic acid content during the development of the seed. As for the linolenic acid a drastic reduction was observed between the 1st and the 3rd stages in all genotypes. The genotype A29, followed by N85-2176 presented the lowest linolenic acid content during the development of the seed. The total oil content in mature seeds (5th stage) was 22% for Tucunaré, 24% for A29, 21% for N85-2176 and 19% for FA22. The values obtained for the desaturases relative activities were proportional to the average concentrations of the fatty acids in the genotypes. The relative enzymatic activities estimated as a function of the average contents of the fattey acids did not allow much conclusion and further determinations in vitro are necessary. The amount of transcripts for FAD2-1 was higher than that of FAD2-2. FAD2-1 levels were low in the first stages of development and increased with time, whereas FAD2-2 levels reduced with the development of the seed. These results are in accordance with the idea that FAD2-1 is related with the biosynthesis of storage fatty acids in the seeds and FAD2-2, with the biosynthesis of membrane fatty acid. Although genotypes FA22 and N85-2176 present high oleic acid contents, this fact cannot be explained by the reduction on transcript levels for the genes FAD2-2 and FAD2-1. This indicates that post-transcriptional events or even other genes control the expression of this trait. Transcript levels for the GmFAD3A gene were higher than those of the GmFAD3B and GmFAD3C genes in all genotypes tested. The transcripts for the GmFAD3A gene were barely detected in genotypes A29 and N85-2176, wheres GmFAD3B transcript levels were extremely low in A29. This fact explains the low level of linolenic acid in this genotype. It is conceivable that post- transcriptional control events regulate the expression of the GmFAD3C gene which encodes for the w-3-desaturase in A29 as this genotype harbors a mutation in this gene and no alteration has been detected in the corresponding transcript profile in relation to the normal cultivar Tucunaré.

ASSUNTO(S)

expressão gênica genetica molecular e de microorganismos desaturases dessaturases gene expression estabilidade oxidativa oxidative stability

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