title: Carnitine is associated with fatty acid metabolism in plants.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: UMR-CNRS 6022 Génie Enzymatique et Cellulaire, Centre de Recherche Royallieu, Université de Technologie de Compiègne, Compiègne Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Benoîte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bourdin
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Adenier
authors.forename: Yolande
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Perrin
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; C116917:acylcarnitine; D002331:Carnitine