title: Chemotaxonomy of the Rubiaceae family based on leaf fatty acid composition.
abstract: With 10,700 species distributed in 637 genera, the Rubiaceae family is one of the largest of the angiosperms. Since it was previously evidenced that the fatty acid composition of photosynthetic tissues can be a tool for chemotaxonomic studies, the fatty acid composition of leaves from 107 Rubiaceae species highly representative of the diversity of the family was determined. Principal component analysis allowed a clear-cut separation of Coffeae, Psychotrieae and Rubieae. The occurrence of C16:3 fatty acid, a marker of the prokaryotic plastidial lipid biosynthetic pathway, concerned at least two branches: Theligoneae/Rubieae and Anthospermeae-Anthosperminae which appeared to be in close relationship. Additional experiments were carried out to ensure the correlation between the presence of C16:3 fatty acid and the prokaryotic biosynthetic pathway.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biogenèse Membranaire, CNRS-UMR 5544, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, 146 Rue Léo-Saignat, 33076 Bordeaux Cedex, France. sebastien.mongrand@biomemb.u-bordeaux2.fr
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mongrand
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Badoc
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Patouille
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lacomblez
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chavent
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Bessoule
mesh_terms: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D010788:Photosynthesis; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*; D011865:Radioisotope Dilution Technique; D019666:Rubiaceae / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification*; D019346:Sodium Acetate; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D005227:Fatty Acids; D019346:Sodium Acetate