Carnitine is associated with fatty acid metabolism in plants.
The finding of acylcarnitines alongside free carnitine in Arabidopsis thaliana and other plant species, using tandem mass spectrometry coupled to liquid chromatography shows a link between carnitine and plant fatty acid metabolism. Moreover the occurrence of both medium- and long-chain acylcarnitines suggests that carnitine is connected to diverse fatty acid metabolic pathways in plant tissues. The carnitine and acylcarnitine contents in plant tissues are respectively a hundred and a thousand times lower than in animal tissues, and acylcarnitines represent less than 2% of the total carnitine pool whereas this percentage reaches 30% in animal tissues. These results suggest that carnitine plays a lesser role in lipid metabolism in plants than it does in animals.
Bourdin
Benoîte
B
UMR-CNRS 6022 Génie Enzymatique et Cellulaire, Centre de Recherche Royallieu, Université de Technologie de Compiègne, Compiègne Cedex, France.
Adenier
Hervé
H
Perrin
Yolande
Y
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000378:metabolism; D029741:Brassica rapa / Q000378:metabolism; D002331:Carnitine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D019597:Flax / Q000378:metabolism; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000378:metabolism
D005227:Fatty Acids; C116917:acylcarnitine; D002331:Carnitine