Comparative Sequence Analysis of Fatty Acid Desaturase 2 (FAD2) cDNA Sequences from the Compositae [Asteraceae]

Paul Ames Muller Jr., University of Massachusetts Boston

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Abstract

Fatty acid desaturases are enzymes capable of modifying carbon-carbon bonds within fatty acids. All higher plants contain one or more oleic acid desaturases that catalyze insertion of a double bond between carbons 12 and 13 of oleic acid to produce linoleic acid, an unsaturated fatty acid. However, this family of enzymes may vary in specificity and are responsible for a wide spectrum of unsaturated fatty acids found in nature that play important ecological, physiological, and industrial roles. Here, I examine nucleotide sequence evolution and predict structural changes of translated expressed Fatty Acid Desaturase 2 (FAD2) cDNA sequences in the Compositae - a family of agriculturally and economically important plant species.