Hexacosanoic acid and other very long-chain fatty acids in peanut seed oil

Abstract

The fatty acid composition of peanut seed oil from a range of samples included in the core of the core or the ‘mini core’ of the US peanut germplasm collection was determined using gas chromatography. Oil contents of the seeds ranged from 31.4 to 47.9%. Very long-chain fatty acids are defined as those having more than 22 carbons in chain length. Although it has been reported in peanuts seed previously, the presence of hexacosanoic acid (C26:0) was quantified in a large variety of samples here for the first time along with docosanoic (C22:0) and tetracosanoic acids (C24:0) to demonstrate the potential of peanut seed as a source of very long-chain fatty acids that have been associated with widely varying effects such as the metabolism of the dietary fatty acids and physical properties of the oils themselves. Use of representative samples from the peanut germplasm collection allowed for comparison of very long-chain fatty acid content among seeds of different origins, and showed, although values overlapped, the seeds did cluster according to area of origin.