INHERITANCE OF ELEVATED PALMITIC ACID IN FLAX AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE LOW LINOLENIC ACID

Palmitic acid, a 16-C saturated fatty acid, is important in the production of margarine, shortening, and other fat products, This study was conducted to determine the inheritance of ethyl methanesulfonate-induced high palmitic acid (278 g kg(-1)) in a flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) mutant (E67) and to determine the feasibility of combining this elevated palmitic acid trait with a reduced linolenic acid trait of another mutant (E1747), both derived from 'McGregor' flax. The E67 mutant also possessed elevated levels of palmitoleic acid (48 g kg(-1)). Reciprocal crosses of E67 x McGregor and E67 x E1747 were made, Gas chromatography analyses of fatty acids from seed oil of F-1, F-2, and backcross populations indicated that the control of the high palmitic and palmitoleic acid character in E67 was the result of the pleiotropic effect of a single additive gene. The study confirmed that the control of the deficient linolenic acid trait in E1747 was by two independent recessive genes. Neither gene was linked to the high palmitic acid locus, Combination of the mutant traits in E67 and E1747 was therefore possible. Quantitative H-1-nuclear magnetic resonance analysis revealed that the mutant allele in E67 had no effect on oil content, whereas in E1747, an increase of approximate to 100 g kg(-1) was observed under phytotron conditions.