Paper · 2023 · AoB Plants

Anemochorous and zoochorous seeds of trees from the Brazilian savannas differ in fatty acid content and composition

Augusto Cesar Franco; Risolandia Bezerra de Melo; Cristiane Silva Ferreira; et al.

11
claims
19
verbatim quotes
4
citations
2
research areas
✓
Open access · cc-by

Abstract

Abstract Fatty acids (FAs) stored as triacylglycerols (TAGs) are an important source of carbon and energy for germination and seedling development, particularly for plants with small wind-dispersed seeds, allowing greater efficiency in storing both energy and carbon. These plants should be under strong selection to produce seeds rich in FAs and with large amounts of saturated FAs. Their closely packed single-chain configuration allows greater packing, more carbon and energy per unit mass, and are less costly to produce. Efficient carbon storage would be less crucial for zoochorous species, which can reach much larger seed sizes (mass). We analysed the transesterified FA profile from seeds of 22 anemochorous and zoochorous tree species from the Cerrado savannas of Central Brazil. We tested if seed FA content covaried with seed mass and if anemochorous and zoochorous seeds differed in FA contents and distribution. Fatty acids were an important seed source of carbon and energy for most species. Fifteen different FAs were identified. Oleic, linoleic and linolenic tended to be the predominant unsaturated FAs. Oleic acid corresponded to more than 60 % of the total transesterified FAs in seeds of Kielmeyera coriacea, Qualea dichotoma and Triplaris americana. Linoleic acid corresponded to more than 50 % of total FA in Dalbergia miscolobium, Parkia platycephala and Ferdinandusa elliptica while linolenic acid was the dominant component in Inga cylindrica. Across species, palmitic and stearic were the dominant saturated FAs. The only exception was lauric acid (68 % of total FA) in seeds of Qualea grandiflora. On a log10 scale, as the seed increased in mass, accumulation of FAs tends to proceed at a faster rate in anemochorous species than in zoochorous species. They also became increasingly richer in saturated FAs. Zoochorous species had seed TAGs with higher proportion of polyunsaturated FAs.

Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗

The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.

Claims 11

Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Fifteen different fatty acids were identified in seeds of the tree species.

Taxon
tree speciese0
Outcome
different FAse1
Value
Fifteene1

Verbatim

e0

“We analysed the transesterified FA profile from seeds of 22 anemochorous and zoochorous tree species from the Cerrado savannas of Central Brazil”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 644–788 · show in text ↑
e1

“Fifteen different FAs were identified”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1007–1044 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Fatty acids were an important seed source of carbon and energy for most tree species.

Taxon
tree speciese0
Outcome
important seed source of carbon and energye2
Qualifier
for most speciese2

Verbatim

e0

“We analysed the transesterified FA profile from seeds of 22 anemochorous and zoochorous tree species from the Cerrado savannas of Central Brazil”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 644–788 · show in text ↑
e2

“Fatty acids were an important seed source of carbon and energy for most species”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 926–1005 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Oleic, linoleic and linolenic tended to be the predominant unsaturated fatty acids across tree species.

Taxon
tree speciese0
Outcome
predominant unsaturated FAse3
Qualifier
tended to bee3

Verbatim

e0

“We analysed the transesterified FA profile from seeds of 22 anemochorous and zoochorous tree species from the Cerrado savannas of Central Brazil”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 644–788 · show in text ↑
e3

“Oleic, linoleic and linolenic tended to be the predominant unsaturated FAs”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1046–1120 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Oleic acid was more than 60% of total fatty acids in seeds of Kielmeyera coriacea, Qualea dichotoma and Triplaris americana.

Taxon
Kielmeyera coriacea, Qualea dichotoma and Triplaris americanae4
Outcome
Oleic acide4
Value
more than 60 %e4

Verbatim

e4

“Oleic acid corresponded to more than 60 % of the total transesterified FAs in seeds of Kielmeyera coriacea, Qualea dichotoma and Triplaris americana”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1122–1270 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Linoleic acid was more than 50% of total fatty acids in seeds of Dalbergia miscolobium, Parkia platycephala and Ferdinandusa elliptica.

Taxon
Dalbergia miscolobium, Parkia platycephala and Ferdinandusa ellipticaParkia platycephalaDalbergia miscolobiumFerdinandusa ellipticae5
Outcome
Linoleic acide5
Value
more than 50 %e5

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Parkia platycephala
Parkia platycephala · TaxonJoão D'Andretta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗
Dalbergia miscolobium
Dalbergia miscolobium · TaxonJoão de Deus Medeiros · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗
Ferdinandusa elliptica
Ferdinandusa elliptica · TaxonAnnaclara 1123 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e5

“Linoleic acid corresponded to more than 50 % of total FA in Dalbergia miscolobium, Parkia platycephala and Ferdinandusa elliptica”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1272–1401 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Linolenic acid was the dominant fatty acid component in seeds of Inga cylindrica.

Taxon
Inga cylindricaInga cylindricae6
Outcome
linolenic acide6
Qualifier
dominant componente6

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Inga cylindrica
Inga cylindrica · TaxonDouglas · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist ↗

Verbatim

e6

“linolenic acid was the dominant component in Inga cylindrica”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1408–1468 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Palmitic and stearic acids were the dominant saturated fatty acids across tree species.

Taxon
tree speciese0
Outcome
dominant saturated FAse7
Qualifier
palmitic and stearice7

Verbatim

e0

“We analysed the transesterified FA profile from seeds of 22 anemochorous and zoochorous tree species from the Cerrado savannas of Central Brazil”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 644–788 · show in text ↑
e7

“Across species, palmitic and stearic were the dominant saturated FAs”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1470–1538 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Lauric acid was 68% of total fatty acids in seeds of Qualea grandiflora.

Taxon
Qualea grandifloraQualea grandiflorae1
Outcome
lauric acide1
Value
68 % of total FAe1

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Qualea grandiflora
Qualea grandiflora · TaxonConrado · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e1

“lauric acid (68 % of total FA) in seeds of Qualea grandiflora”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1563–1624 · show in text ↑
Associationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Fatty acid accumulation proceeded at a faster rate in anemochorous than in zoochorous species as seed mass increased.

Taxon
tree speciese0
Material
anemochorous speciese2
Outcome
accumulation of FAse2
Direction
faster ratee2
Qualifier
On a log10 scale, as the seed increased in masse2
Comparator
zoochorous speciese2

Verbatim

e0

“We analysed the transesterified FA profile from seeds of 22 anemochorous and zoochorous tree species from the Cerrado savannas of Central Brazil”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 644–788 · show in text ↑
e2

“On a log10 scale, as the seed increased in mass, accumulation of FAs tends to proceed at a faster rate in anemochorous species than in zoochorous species”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1626–1779 · show in text ↑
Associationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

As seed mass increased, seeds became increasingly richer in saturated fatty acids.

Taxon
tree speciese0
Organ / stage
seede1
Outcome
saturated FAse2
Direction
increasingly richere2

Verbatim

e0

“We analysed the transesterified FA profile from seeds of 22 anemochorous and zoochorous tree species from the Cerrado savannas of Central Brazil”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 644–788 · show in text ↑
e1

“On a log10 scale, as the seed increased in mass, accumulation of FAs tends to proceed at a faster rate in anemochorous species than in zoochorous species”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1626–1779 · show in text ↑
e2

“They also became increasingly richer in saturated FAs”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1781–1834 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Zoochorous species had seed triacylglycerols with a higher proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Taxon
tree speciese0
Material
Zoochorous speciese1
Organ / stage
seed TAGse1
Outcome
proportion of polyunsaturated FAse1
Direction
highere1

Verbatim

e0

“We analysed the transesterified FA profile from seeds of 22 anemochorous and zoochorous tree species from the Cerrado savannas of Central Brazil”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 644–788 · show in text ↑
e1

“Zoochorous species had seed TAGs with higher proportion of polyunsaturated FAs”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1836–1914 · show in text ↑