Exploring Phylogenetic Relationships between Hundreds of Plant Fatty Acids Synthesized by Thousands of Plants. more details ...

Can we discover new plant  FA structures?  What branches of plant evolution are missing FA  data?

Analysis of seeds of thousands of plant species has revealed the occurrence of hundreds of different fatty acid structures.  Are there more unique fatty acid structures still to be discovered? Examination of all the plant species represented in PlantFAdb, together with recent phylogenetic information allows us to identify branches in plant evolution whose seeds so far have not been analyzed for fatty acid composition.

The table below presents information on branches of the plant kingdom that have had little or no fatty acid analysis.  Approximately 15 % of plant orders and 40% of plant families have not been analyzed for FA composition. Therefore , many (>100?) new fatty acid structures might yet be discovered.   


A Resource for Discovery of New FA Structures: Orders without Data in PlantFAdb
Order Description Families Genera Species Family names
Amborellales Amborella trichopoda is only  species.  Molecular phylogenetic analyses consistently place the genus at or near the base of the flowering plant lineage 1 1 1 Amborellaceae
Berberidopsidales Berberidopsidales is an order of  Southern Hemisphere woody flowering plants. 2 3 4 Berberidopsidaceae; Aextoxicaceae
Bruniales Bruniales  not used at the rank of order until a 2008 study suggested that  Bruniaceae  and  Columelliaceae  are sister clades 2 14 79 Bruniaceae; Columelliaceae
Canellales Canellales is one of the four orders of the magnoliids. It is defined to contain two families: Canellaceae and Winteraceae, which comprise 136 species of fragrant trees and  shrubs 2  9-13 136 Canellaceae; Winteraceae
Ceratophyllales Hornwort order of flowering plants, consisting of a single family (Ceratophyllaceae ) with one cosmopolitan genus ( Ceratophyllum ) containing 10 species 1 1 10 Ceratophyllaceae
Escalloniales Member of Asterids clade;  ~130 species in 7 genera 1 7 130 Escalloniaceae
Huerteales Shrubs or small trees found in most tropical or warm temperate regions. The flowers of Perrottetia  have been studied in detail but otherwise, all five of the genera are poorly known 4 6 24 Petenaeaceae; Gerrardinaceae;   Tapisciaceae; Dipentodontaceae
Paracryphiales Family of woody shrubs and trees native to Australia, southeast Asia, and New Caledonia. In the APG III system of 2009, the family is placed in its own order, Paracryphiales, in the campanulid clade of the asterids 1 3 36 Paracryphiaceae
Petrosaviales Very small order of rare leafless achlorophyllous, mycoheterotrophic plants found in dark montane rainforests in Japan, China, Southeast Asia and Borneo 1 2 4 Petrosaviaceae
Sabiales Represented by a single family (Sabiaceae), which is also considered by some  as a member of Proteales.  1 3 66 Sabiaceae
Vahliales  Herbs and subshrubs that grow in Africa and the Indian subcontinent. This family had previously been placed in the Saxifragales order, and was reassigned to the new order Vahliales in 2016 by the APG IV system 1 1 5 Vahliaceae