Phospholipid fatty acid composition and stereospecific distribution of soybeans with a wide range of fatty acid composition

Phospholipid (PL) fatty acid composition and stereospecific distribution of 25 genetically modified soybean lines with a wide range of compositions were determined by gas chromatography and phospholipase A₂ hydrolysis. Pl contained an average of 55.3% phosphatidylcholine, 26.3% phosphatidylethanolamine, and 18.4% phosphatidylinositol. PL class proportions were affected by changes in overall fatty acid composition. PL fatty acid composition changed with oil fatty acid modification, especially for palmitate, stearate, and linolenate. Stereospecific analysis showed that saturated fatty acids were primarily located at the sn-1 position of all PL, and changes of the saturates in PL were largely reflected on this position. Oleate was distributed relatively equally between the sn-1 and sn-2 positions. Linoleate was much more concentrated on sn-2 than on sn-1 position for all PL. Linolenate was distributed relatively equally at low concentration but preferred sn-2 position at high concentration.