Kamran Safavi - Institute of Biotechnology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Gholamreza Kavoosi - Institute of Biotechnology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Roghayeh Siahbalaei - Institute of Biotechnology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

The influence of ZnSO4, FeSO4, ZnO, and Fe2O3 at 80 μM on the expression of desaturase genes and fatty acidcomposition of Pleurotus ostreatus was investigated. Fatty acid was extracted by lipid extraction and methylationprocedure using acidic methanol: normal saline: hexane solution followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS). The most prominent fatty acids in P. ostreatus were linoleic acid (44.7%), palmitic acid (8.6%), oleic acid(8.5%), stearic acid (2.9%), pentadecanoic acid (2.6%) and heptadecanoic acid (2.3%). ZnO strongly and Fe2O3slightly lead a decrease in unsaturated fatty acid (UFA), polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and omega-6 and anincrease in the monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), omega-7 and omega-9 content. Accordingly, our resultsconsiderably confirmed the different effects of ZnSO4 and ZnO on fatty acid content. These differential effects forFeSO4 and Fe2O3 were not significant. Δ9-desaturase and Δ12-desaturase expression but not Δ15-desaturase wereupregulated in the seeds cultured in media containing ZnO and Fe2O3.

Pleurotus ostreatus, essential fatty acid, desaturase