GENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF SUNFLOWER MUTANTS WITH HIGH CONTENT OF SATURATED FATTY ACIDS IN SEED OIL / CARACTERIZACION GENETICA DE MUTANTES DE GIRASOL CON ALTO CONTENIDO EN ACIDOS GRASOS SATURADOS / CARACTÉRISATION GÉNÉTIQUE DES MUTANTS DE TOURNESOL À HAUT CONTENU D’ACIDES GRAS SATURÉS DANS L’HUILE

Abstract

SUMMARY The genetic control of the high saturated fatty acid content in sunflower seed oil has been studied in the high palmitic acid (C16:0) mutant line CAS-5, and in the high stearic acid (C18:0) mutant line CAS-3. This review summarizes the pertinent results. The high saturated fatty acid content in sunflower seed oil is controlled by partially recessive alleles at two loci (Es1, Es2) for the high C18:0 content and at three loci (P1, P2, P3) for the high C16:0 content. The high C16:0 and the high C18:0 traits are not inherited independently. When their combined segregation was studied, the expected phenotypic expression of both high C16:0 and high C18:0 levels was not observed. This fact was attributed to the existence of an epistatic effect of the loci controlling the high C16:0 trait on the loci controlling the high C18:0 trait. The results obtained indicate that sunflower hybrids with a high saturated fatty acid content in their seed oil can be developed and will be in cultivation in a few years.