ABSTRACT
In this work we studied the effect of insufficient watering (IW) and melamine salt of bis(oxymethyl)-phosphonic acid (melaphen) on the fatty acid composition and the energy of 5 day etiolated pea seedling mitochondria (Pisum sativum). It has been shown
that IW results in alteration of fatty acid composition in mitochondrial membranes of seedlings. The ratio of the content of С18-–unsaturated fatty acids to the stearic acid content decreases by 1.5 times. Significant changes are observed in content of fatty acids with 20 carbon atoms: the ratio of unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids decreases by 3.3 times. The changes in fatty acid composition of mitochondrial membranes are in correlation with changes in maximum rates of NAD-dependent substrates oxidation (the Pearson’s coefficient of correlation for С18 fatty acids is 0.676; for С20 fatty acids – 0.963). We discuss the regulatory role of the С18 and С20 unsaturated fatty acids in mitochondrial energy metabolism of pea seedlings.
