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Monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) in Plants: Functional Diversity of

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Lipidomics

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Synonyms

Membrane lipids, Glycerolipids, Diacylglycerol

Definitions

Glycolipid – organic molecule composed of lipid moiety and sugar residue attached with its anomeric carbon to the lipid hydroxyl group by a glycosidic bond. The saccharide part may vary from small sugar units to large polysaccharide chains. Among plant glycolipids, the most common are ethers of glucose, galactose, and sulfoquinovose, serving as headgroups in sphingolipids and glycerolipids.

Structure and Occurrence

Monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) is a neutral glycolipid where one galactose residue is bound to the glycerol at sn-3 position to form a hydrophilic headgroup whereas sn-1 and sn-2 positions of the glycerol backbone are esterified with acyl chains (Fig. 1). MGDG is a predominant galactoglycerolipid of photosynthetic membranes. The complete structure of MGDG is 1,2-diacyl-3-O-(β-D-galactopyranosyl)-sn-glycerol and was discovered by Carter et al. (1956). Together with another galactoglycerolipid –...

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Abbreviations

DAG:

Diacylglycerol

DGDG:

Digalactosyldiacylglycerol

DGS:

DGDG synthase

JA:

Jasmonic acid

MGD:

MGDG synthase

MGDG:

Monogalactosyldiacylglycerol

PUFA:

Polyunsaturated fatty acid

TAG:

Triacylglycerol

UDP:

Uridine 5-diphosphate

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Krzysztof Zienkiewicz

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  1. Krzysztof Zienkiewicz
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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. (2017). Monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) in Plants: Functional Diversity of. In: Wenk, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lipidomics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7864-1_141-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7864-1_141-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7864-1

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