Development of Oil-Storing Bodies

Other evidence against the spherosomal nature and origin of oil bodies comes from studies on the enzymic properties of spherosomes. Several workers have noted that spherosomes from different sources, i.e. from oil-storing and other tissues, contain various hydrolytic enzymes such as acid phosphatases and non-specific esterases, whereas oil-bodies do not (e.g. in Crambe[ l ]) it is possible, of course, that enzymes become lost during development. There is therefore a strong possibility that spherosomes are not the precursors of oil bodies and we are not yet certain about how the latter do arise. 

In castor bean endosperm, vacuolar inclusions containing particles are evident in the developing oil droplets these particulate inclusions are revealed by electron microscopic examination of both the isolated fat (oil body) fraction and in oil bodies of tissue slices. Since they remain discrete within the droplet these particles are presumed to be hydrophilic, and are thought to be the enzyme complex involved in triglyceride deposition [75]. Perhaps oil accumulation ceases when these enzymes can no longer receive substrates from outside the oil body because of interference by the accumulated oil. In Crambe also, a particulate mass is associated with the developing oil bodies but in this case the particles surround the site of oil deposition [171]. 

It is thus too soon to make any firm conclusions concerning the development of oil reserves in these bodies and this is clearly an important area for further investigation. 

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