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Diacylglycerol in Plants: Functional Diversity of

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Encyclopedia of Lipidomics

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Synonyms

Lipid droplets; Lipid bodies; Oleosomes; Oil bodies

Definition

Acylglycerols (glycerides) – esters of glycerol and fatty acids. Depending on how many of the three hydroxyl functional groups of glycerol are esterified, monoglycerides monoacylglycerols (monoglycerides), diacylglycerols (diglycerides), or triacylglycerols (triglycerides) can be formed.

Structure, Synthesis, and Occurrence

Diacylglycerol (DAG), termed also as diglyceride is an acylglycerol composed of a glycerol backbone where two of three hydroxy groups are esterified with fatty acid (FA) chains. Depending on which hydroxyl group of glycerol is esterified DAG can exist in three stereochemical forms: sn-1,2-diacylglycerol and sn-2,3-diacylglycerol (termed also α,β-diacylglycerols) as well as sn-1,3-diacylglycerol (termed also α,α’-diacylglycerol) (Fig. 1). In most plant species, DAG is present at low abundance, when compared to triacylglycerols (TAG) (Table 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Structure of stereochemical forms of...

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Abbreviations

DAG:

Diacylglycerol

DAGK:

DAG kinases

DGAT:

Acyl-CoA/diacylglycerol acyltransferase

DGDG:

Digalactosyldiacylglycerol

GPAT:

Acyl-CoA/glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase

LPAAT:

Acyl-CoA/lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase

MAG:

Monoacylglycerol

MGAT:

Acyl-CoA/monoacylglycerol acyltransferase

MGDG:

Monogalactosyldiacylglycerol

PA:

Phosphatidic acid

PAP:

Phosphatidic acid phosphatase

PC:

Phosphatidylcholine

PDAT:

Acyl-CoA/phospholipid acyltransferase

PE:

Phosphatidylethanolamine

PG:

Phosphatidylglycerol

PI:

Phosphatidylinositol

PI(4,5)P2 :

Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate

PI4P:

Phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate;

PI-PLC:

Phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C

PLC:

Phospholipase C

PLD:

Phospholipase D

PS:

Phosphatidylserine

SQDG:

Sulfoquinovosylglycerol

TAG:

Triacylglycerol

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biochemistry, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Georg-August-University Goettingen, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany

    Krzysztof Zienkiewicz & Till Ischebeck

Authors
  1. Krzysztof Zienkiewicz
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  2. Till Ischebeck
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Krzysztof Zienkiewicz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Centre for Life Sciences, Singapore, Singapore

    Markus R. Wenk

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Zienkiewicz, K., Ischebeck, T. (2017). Diacylglycerol in Plants: Functional Diversity of. In: Wenk, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lipidomics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7864-1_139-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7864-1_139-1

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