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Title: NEW COLLECTIONS OF LESQUERELLA AND PHYSARIA (BRASSICACEAE) AS SOURCES OF HYDROXY FATTY ACIDS

Author
item SALYWON, ANDREW - ARIZONA STATE UNIV
item Dierig, David

Submitted to: Annual Meeting of Arizona Nevada Academy of Science
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/10/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: All the species of Lesquerella and the closely related genus Physaria (Brassicaceae) possess seed-oil rich in one of three types of hydroxy fatty acids (HFA) as the main component of their oil profiles. These HFA's (lesquerolic, densipolic, auricolic) could be used as replacements for imported castor oil in the production of plastics, lubricants, protective coatings, surfactants, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Because of considerable genetic variation for chemical composition of the seed oil and other important agronomic characteristics both within and among species, new germplasm is required to assist the commercialization efforts; therefore, we have made new collections from the US and Mexico. Hybridization and polyploidy shows promise for increasing favorable traits, so cytology is being carried out on new accessions. Several new chromosome counts have been attained along with the first record of an inversion in Physaria.