Ks. Liu et al., FATTY-ACID COMPOSITION WITHIN EACH STRUCTURAL PART AND SECTION OF A SOYBEAN SEED, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 43(2), 1995, pp. 381-383
Seed coat, axis, sections of cotyledons, and the whole seed of six soy
bean genotypes were analyzed by gas chromatography. Relative percentag
es of fatty acids were homogeneous within cotyledons but varied greatl
y among structural parts. The axis had highest percentage of polyunsat
urated fatty acids, whereas the coat had highest percentage of saturat
ed fatty acids. Due to the cotyledons representing the largest proport
ion, the fatty acid composition of cotyledons represented that of the
whole seed, suggesting that slicing a portion of cotyledons for breedi
ng screen of fatty acids is a reliable sampling technique. Furthermore
, regardless of the great variation in fatty acid profile of the six g
enotypes selected, the ratio in relative percentage of an individual f
atty acid between the axis and cotyledons was highly conserved, implyi
ng that (1) events of lipid metabolism in maturing seeds may be correl
ated between axis and cotyledons, and (2) given a fatty acid compositi
on of one tissue, one can predict that of the other.