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Molecular basis of the high-palmitic acid trait in sunflower seed oil

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Abstract

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) seed oil with high palmitic acid content has enhanced thermo-oxidative stability, which makes it well suited to high-temperature uses. CAS-5 is a sunflower mutant line that accumulates over 25 % palmitic acid in its seed oil, compared to 5–8 % in conventional cultivars. The objective of this study was to investigate the molecular basis of the high-palmitic acid trait in CAS-5 through both candidate gene and QTL mapping approaches. An F2 population derived from the cross between CAS-5 and the conventional line HA-89 was developed. A 3-ketoacyl-ACP synthase II (KASII) locus on a telomeric region of linkage group (LG) 9 of the sunflower genetic map was found to co-segregate with palmitic acid content in this population. The KASII locus explained the vast majority of the phenotypic variation (98 %) of the trait. Two minor QTL affecting palmitic acid content were also found on the lower half of LG 9 and on LG 17. Additionally, QTL associated with other major fatty acids (stearic, oleic, and linoleic acid) were identified on LG 1, 6, and 10. This result may reflect untapped genetic variation that could exist among sunflower cultivars for genes determining fatty acid composition. In addition to demonstrating the major role of a KASII locus in the accumulation of high levels of palmitic acid in CAS-5 seeds, this study stressed the importance of characterizing genes with minor effects on fatty acid profile in order to establish optimal breeding strategies for modifying fatty acid composition in sunflower seed oil.

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Acknowledgments

The research was partially funded by Junta de Andalucía support program to research group AGR-118.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible (IAS-CSIC), Alameda del Obispo s/n, 14004, Córdoba, Spain

    B. Pérez-Vich, L. del Moral, L. Velasco & J. M. Fernández-Martínez

  2. US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Services, Forage and Range Research Laboratory, Logan, UT, 84322-6300, USA

    B. S. Bushman

  3. Department of Plant Sciences, Plant Breeding Center, University of California at Davis, One Shields Av., 95616-8515, Davis, CA, USA

    S. J. Knapp

  4. Advanta Seeds JLT, Suite 206, Swiss Tower, Cluster Y, Jumeirah Lake Towers, P.O. Box: 33421, Dubai, UAE

    A. Leon

  5. Limagrain UK Limited, Station Road, Docking, Norfolk, PE31 8LS, UK

    S. T. Berry

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  1. B. Pérez-Vich
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  2. L. del Moral
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  3. L. Velasco
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  4. B. S. Bushman
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  5. S. J. Knapp
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  6. A. Leon
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  7. J. M. Fernández-Martínez
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  8. S. T. Berry
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Correspondence to B. Pérez-Vich.

Electronic supplementary material

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11032_2016_462_MOESM1_ESM.docx

Supplementary material 1 Correlation coefficients between palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, and linoleic acid levels in the F2 generation (195 individuals) from crosses between HA-89, with standard low palmitic acid content, and CAS-5, with high palmitic acid content (DOCX 42 kb)

11032_2016_462_MOESM2_ESM.docx

Supplementary material 2 Scatter plot of palmitic acid (% of the total fatty acids) versus oleic acid (% of the total fatty acids) in the HA-89 x CAS-5 F2 mapping population, labeled according to the alleles at the KASII marker locus on LG 9. A= homozygous with respect to the allele derived from CAS-5; B= homozygous with respect to the allele derived from HA-89; H= heterozygous (DOCX 77 kb)

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Pérez-Vich, B., del Moral, L., Velasco, L. et al. Molecular basis of the high-palmitic acid trait in sunflower seed oil. Mol Breeding 36, 43 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-016-0462-2

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