Limnanthes douglasii

Ettlinger MG, Lundeen AJ (1956) The mustard oil of Limnanthes douglasii seed, m-methoxybenzylisothiocyanate. J Am Chem Soc 78 1952-1954... 

Meng Y, Whiting P, Sik V, Rees HH, Dinan L (2001) Limnantheoside C (20-hydroxyecdysone 3-0-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-[1 3]-beta-D-xylopyranoside), a phytoecdysteroid from seeds of Limnanthes alba (Limnanthaceae). Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung 56 988-994 Sarker SD, Girault JP, Lafont R, Dinan L (1997) Ecdysteroid xylosides from Limnanthes douglasii. Phytochemistry 44 513-521... 

This is a small family of North American cultivated ornamentals. Alkaloids are not known except for a recorded positive test for Limnanthes douglasii in this study a sample of Floerkea prosperi-nacoides was negative. 

For the last several years, there has been much interest in jojoba, Simmondsia chinensis, a plant native to the southwestern United States and Mexico, because of the presence of liquid wax esters in the seeds (Wisniak, 1988). Numerous schemes to convert desert land into orchards of these plants have been proposed. The oil is an excellent lubricant, has good emollient properties, and may replace sperm whale oil for many uses. As the fatty acid combination of Limnanthes douglasii (meadowfoam, Limnanthaceae) is quite similar to that of jojoba, the synthesis of a similar wax ester by hydrolysis and reduction followed by esterification has been proposed (Miwa and Wolff, 1962). 

Miwa, T. K. and I. A, Wolff, Fatty acids, fatty alcohols, and wax esters from Limnanthes douglasii (meadowfoam) seed oil, J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc., 39, 320-322 (1962). 

C15H21NO10S2 439.464 Present in Lepidium graminifolium and Limnanthes douglasii. 

ENGINEERING TRIERUCIN INTO OILSEED RAPE BY THE INTRODUCTION OF A 1-ACYL. SA-GLYCEROL-3-PHOSPHATE ACYLTRANSFERASE FROM LIMNANTHES DOUGLASII... 

A cDNA (pLAT2) has been isolated from Limnanthes douglasii developing embryos by complementation of an E. coli mutant (JC201) (4) deficient in LPA-AT activity (5, 6). Assays on membranes from complemented JC201 have demonstrated the ability to utilize erucoyl-CoA with a substrate specificity similar to that of Limnanthes microsomes and distinctly different to that of wild-type E. coli. 

Lohden, I., Frentzen, M. (1992) Triacylglycerol biosynthesis in developing seeds of Tropaeolum majus L. and Limnanthes douglasii R. Br. Planta 188, 215-224. 

Brown, A.P., Brough, C.L., Kroon, J.T.M., Slabas, A.R. (1995) Identification of a cDNA that encodes a l-acyl- n-glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase from Limnanthes douglasii. Plant Mol Biol 29, 267-278. 

Engineering Trierucin into Oilseed Rape by the Introduction of a 1-Acyl-sn-Glycerol-3-Phosphate Acyltransferase from Limnanthes douglasii. 

Fig. 1. Functional expression of the cDNA from Limnanthes douglasii in E. coli JC201. Activities of 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase were determined with either oleoyl-CoA (light bars) or erucoyl-CoA (dark bars) in membrane fractions of JC201 cells harbouring the vector pQE60 or the construct pQEL21, respectively, as described before [5].

In summary, we succeeded in the isolation of a cDNA from Limnanthes douglasii which encodes an erucoyl-CoA specific l-acylglycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase. The deduced amino acid sequence shows substantial sequence similarity to the respective acyltransferase of E. coli. Consequently, the isolated cDNA is suitable for transforming rape-seed with the aim to increase the content of erucic acid in the fatty acid composition of rapeseed oil and, thus, to improve its industrial applicability. 

A.R., 1996. Towards the genetic engineering of triacylglyca-ols of defind fatty acid composition major changes in erucic acid content at the sn-2 position affected by the introduction of a l-acyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase from limnanthes douglasii into oil seed rape. Mol. Breed. 2,133-142. 

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