Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) consists of high levels of polyunsaturated fatty
acids, making its oil susceptible to oxidation. Tocopherols can retard or
prevented oxidation. The aim of this study is to determine the phenotypic
tocopherol (vitamin E) composition and genetic diversity of the biosynthetic
pathway genes. Seeds were characterized for fatty acid and tocopherol
content. A positive correlation was found between oleic acid, γ (r =0.17) and δ
(r =0.23) tocopherol but none between linoleic acid and all four tocopherol
derivatives. Vitamin E gene homologues were identified and a concomitant
pathway constructed, with genes of interest sequenced to determine their
genetic variation. A sunflower gene database was developed for these genes
and used to obtain 489 SNPs and 145 indels from the accessions evaluated.
Only 139 of these SNPs were located in the exon regions of the gene
candidates. These exon-based SNPs may influence tocopherol flow through
possible enzyme structural modifications / School of Agriculture and Life Sciences / M. Sc. (Life Sciences)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/23594 |
| Date | 02 1900 |
| Creators | Daniels, Linchay Janine |
| Contributors | Swanevelder, Z. H. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | 1 online resource (202 leaves) : illustrations (chiefly color) |
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