Scientific publications

The content and fatty acid composition of three lipid fractions (neutral lipids, glycolipids, and phospholipids) in the trunk tissues of 7–8-year-old curly birch saplings were studied. The parameters were compared in saplings with normal and abnormal trunk development. The results show that neutral lipids in curly birch saplings with abnormal trunk development are distributed so that in the upper part of the trunk they are plentiful in the phelloderm, and in the lower part – in the wood. Thus, the most figured (lower) section of the trunk contains more neutral lipids in the wood than in the phelloderm. In addition, we found significantly higher content and unsaturation of phospholipid fatty acids in figured wood, mostly owing to linoleic acid (fatty acid with two double bonds). Comparison between curly birch plants with normal and abnormal development revealed opposite gradients of change in the content of lipid fractions in the wood along the trunk: in curly birch with figured wood the content of all three lipid fractions (more explicitly neutral and phospholipids) increases towards the lower part of the trunk, whereas in straight-grained plants it decreases.