A Study of Phospholipids and Galactolipids in Pollen of Two Lines of Brassica napus L. (Rapeseed) with Different Ratios of Linoleic to Linolenic Acid

The phospholipids and galactolipids of the pollen-coat and internal domains of two lines of Brassica napus, Wesroona and IXLIN, with different linoleic/linolenic acid ratios (18:2/18:3) have been characterized by normal phase silica high performance liquid chromatography and gas liquid chromatography. The polar lipids of the pollen-coat are similar to leaf lipids in the high proportion of galactolipids (almost 50%) and the fatty acids; 18:3, palmitic (16:0) and hexadecatrienoic (16:3). In contrast, the pollen internal domain, although rich in 18:3, 18:2 and 16:0, is composed primarily of phosphatidyl-choline, -ethanolamine, and -inositol whose 18:2/18:3 ratio is correlated with that of the seed generation. The difference between the two divergent 18:2/18:3 ratio lines is most evident in the internal domain phospholipids. The 18:2/18:3 ratio of the galactolipids of both pollen domains is not significantly effected by the line genotype. The results are interpreted in terms of the previously described `prokaryotic' and `eukaryotic' plant desaturation pathways (PG Roughan, CR Slack [1982] Annu Rev Plant Physiol 33: 97-132). We propose that the eukaryotic pathway is the major desaturation pathway providing polyunsaturated fatty acids to the haploid-specified internal domain in which the IXLIN genotype modifies the activity of the sn-2 linoleoyl phosphatidylcholine desaturase/s of the endoplasmic reticulum. In the diploid-specified pollen-coat, our evidence suggests that a combination of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic pathways contribute polyunsaturated fatty acids.