ABSTRACT
Plant storage lipids represent a highly reduced form of carbon that can serve as a source of energy during germination and early seedling development. The storage lipids of oleaginous crops also serve as a source of edible oils for human consumption, for both adequate nutrition and nutraceutic value. Plant microsomal PA phosphatase associated with glycerolipid synthesis has been characterized in developing safflower seed and peanuts, microspore-derived cultures of B. napus and mesocarp of avocado. Plant phospholipases have a wide range of functions including involvement in cell regulation, lipid catabolism and membrane remodeling. The predominant theory for biogenesis of lipid bodies suggests that they pinch off of the endoplasmic reticulum and end up being encased by a half-unit membrane. Chloroplasts contain lipid bodies known as plastoglobuli, which may serve as reservoirs for movement of acyl moieties in and out of the thylakoid compartment.
