[Progress in the study on genes encoding enzymes involved in biosynthesis of very long chain fatty acids and cuticular wax in plants]

Synthesis of C20-38 Fatty Acids in Plant Tissues

Very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA) are involved in a number of important plant physiological functions. Disorders in the expression of genes involved in the synthesis of VLCFA lead to a number of phenotypic consequences, ranging from growth retardation to the death of embryos. The elongation of VLCFA in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is carried out by multiple elongase complexes with different substrate specificities and adapted to the synthesis of a number of products required for a number of metabolic pathways. The information about the enzymes involved in the synthesis of VLCFA with more than 26 atoms of Carbon is rather poor. Recently, genes encoding enzymes involved in the synthesis of both regular-length fatty acids and VLCFA have been discovered and investigated. Polyunsaturated VLCFA in plants are formed mainly by 20:1 elongation into new monounsaturated acids, which are then imported into chloroplasts, where they are further desaturated. The formation of saturated VLCFA and their further transformation into a number of aliphatic compounds included in cuticular waxes and suberin require the coordinated activity of a large number of different enzymes.

Dynamic Protein S-Acylation in Plants

Lipid modification is an important post-translational modification. S-acylation is unique among lipid modifications, as it is reversible and has thus attracted much attention. We summarize some proteins that have been shown experimentally to be S-acylated in plants. Two of these S-acylated proteins have been matched to the S-acyl transferase. More importantly, the first protein thioesterase with de-S-acylation activity has been identified in plants. This review shows that S-acylation is important for a variety of different functions in plants and that there are many unexplored aspects of S-acylation in plants.

Several chromones from the stems of Polygonum aubertii Henry

Two new 2-alkylchromanones, 2-tricosyl-2,5,7-trihydroxy-chromanone (6) and 2-pentacosyl-2,5,7-trihydroxy-chromanone (7), together with five known 2-alkylated chromones and chromanones (1-5), were isolated from the stems of Polygonum aubertii Henry. The structures of these compounds were established by spectroscopic methods including extensive 1D, 2D NMR ((1)H-(1)H COSY, HSQC, and HMBC), and HR-ESI-MS techniques. In addition, a plausible biosynthetic pathway for these compounds is described.