Abstract
The pharmaceutically interesting Δ6-FA 18∶3Δ6c, 9c, 12c (γ-linolenic acid) and 18∶4Δ6c,9c,12c,15c (stearidonic acid) appear to have evolved independently several times during plant phylogenetic evolution. They typically occur in “clusters” of a few closely related species or genera in about a dozen different plant families throughout the plant kingdom. A hither-unknown “cluster of occurrence” has now been discovered in the New World plant family Loasaceae. γ-Linolenic and stearidonic acids occur exclusively in representatives of the newly described genus Nasa at significance levels of between 3 and 10% each. Nasa had recently been separated from the older, more broadly circumscribed genus Loasa. The two Δ6-FA were not found in the closely related genus Loasa sensu stricto, nor in a number of other representatives of Loasaceae.
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Aitzetmüller, K., Brühl, L. & Weigend, M. Seed oil fatty acids of loasaceae—A new source of γ-linolenic and stearidonic acids. J Amer Oil Chem Soc 81, 259–263 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-004-0892-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-004-0892-9