Influence of Sodium Oxamate on Oil Content in Canola Leaves
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Date
2014-06-03
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Abstract
Biofuels that share similarities to petro-diesel regarding combustion properties have received renewed attention. Triacylglycerols (TAG) comprise the main compound in plant oil seed crops and animal fats that is used for biodiesel. In senescent leaves, TAGs are the most abundant pool of lipids. TAGs contain higher levels of fatty acids than are found in chloroplast membranes. Synthesis of glucose from non-carbohydrate carbon substrates occurs via gluconeogenesis from the oxidation of TAGs into glucose, pyruvate, lactate, and glycerol. This study examines the effect gluconeogenesis inhibitors, such as sodium oxamate, could play in increasing oil accumulation in plants. Also, this study tests the efficacy of sodium oxamate in increasing TAG and membrane
lipids in Brassica napus. Several concentrations of sodium oxamate (control, (water with surfactant), 0.0005 mM, 0.005 mM, 0.05 mM, 0.5 mM) were applied to plant leaves. Oil was extracted by using chloroform/methanol (2:1) in accelerated solvent extraction. No oil bodies were observed in the leaves from the vegetative to the reproductive stages for each treated plant. Extracted oil from each plant was separated using thin layer chromatography (TLC) to determine if changes in lipid composition occurred in leaves. We concluded that sodium oxamate did not affect the oil accumulation in leaves of B.napus under the conditions tested. Further studies should be conducted with alternate species and varying surfactants to understand the role that sodium oxamate plays in
altering gluconeogenesis driven oil content.
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Biodiesel