Fatty acid isoprenoid alcohol ester synthesis in fruits of the African Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis)

Abstract

The African Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis; family Arecaceae) represents the most important oil crop for food and feed production and for biotechnological applications. Two types of oil can be extracted from palm fruits, the mesocarp oil which is rich in palmitic acid and in carotenoids (provitamin A) and tocochromanols (vitamin E), and the kernel oil with high amounts of lauric and myristic acid. We identified fatty acid phytyl esters (FAPEs) in the mesocarp and kernel tissues of mature fruits, mostly esterified with oleic acid and very long chain fatty acids. In addition, fatty acid geranylgeranyl esters (FAGGEs) accumulated in mesocarp and kernels to even larger amounts. In contrast, FAPEs and FAGGEs amounts and fatty acid composition in leaves were very similar. Analysis of wild accessions of African Oil Palm from Cameroon revealed a considerable variation in the amounts and composition of FAPEs and FAGGEs in mesocarp and kernel tissues. Exogenous supplementation of phytol or geranylgeraniol to mesocarp slices resulted in the incorporation of these alcohols into FAPEs and FAGGEs, respectively, indicating that they are synthesized via enzymatic reactions. Three candidate genes of the esterase/lipase/thioesterase (ELT) family were identified in the Oil Palm genome. The genes are differentially expressed in mesocarp tissue with EgELT1 showing the highest expression. Geranylgeraniol from FAGGE might be recycled and used as a substrate for the synthesis of carotenoids and tocotrienols during fruit development. Thus, FAPEs and FAGGEs in the mesocarp and kernel of Oil Palm provide an additional metabolic source for fatty acids and phytol or geranylgeraniol, respectively.

Palm oil extracts’ protected against cadmium chloride poisoning via inhibition of oxidative stress in rats”

“…Aside being a major constituent of food and the major source of carotenoids, the key dietetic and vigor promoting constituent of palm oil is fatty acids, (Lara Alvarenga et al, 2019;Gutbrod et al, 2021). These constituents of palm oil are the basis for bene cial property of this man's food source which has been increasingly used as antidote for accidental consumption of noxious substances.…”

Extracción, optimización y capacidad antioxidante de extractos de frutos silvestres de palmas (E. oleraceae, O. bataua y O. mapora) del Pacífico colombiano

“…Varias especies de esta familia muestran un gran potencial como productos con características nutracéuticas (Resende et al, 2019;Curimbaba et al, 2020), antioxidantes, antiinflamatorias (Romão et al, 2020;Machado et al, 2019), antimicrobianas (Apaza Ticona et al, 2021), entre otras. Entre estas especies se encuentran el chontaduro (Bactris gasipaes), cuyo fruto es ampliamente consumido en todo el país y es utilizado también para la preparación de salsas y platos especiales (Ferrari Felisberto et al, 2020); la palma africana (Elaeis guineensis), la cual es cultivada principalmente para la extracción de aceite a partir del fruto (Gutbrod et al, 2021); y el açaí (Euterpe oleracea), conocido en la región pacífica como naidí, y que es mundialmente apetecido por sus excelentes características nutricionales (da Silveira et al, 2019b;Silva et al, 2019)450, 500, and 600 MPa/5 min/20 °C. A pesar de lo anterior, otras especies de Arecaceae son relativamente poco conocidas y su comercialización es limitada a la región en la que se producen, tal es el caso de las especies Oenocarpus bataua y Oenocarpus mapora.…”