A MUTANT GENOTYPE OF FLAX (Linum usitatissimum L.) CONTAINING VERY LOW LEVELS OF LINOLENIC ACID IN ITS SEED OIL

Abstract

Two flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) mutants having reduced linolenic acid content in their seed oil (M1589 = 19.1% linolenic; M1722 = 23.4% linolenic) were crossed to determine whether further reductions could be achieved by recombination of the mutant genes. Extensive transgressive segregation was evident in the F2 for both linolenic acid (1.2–36.6%) and linoleic acid (14.7–55.2%), which were strongly negatively correlated (r = −0.97). F2 plants homozygous for both the M1589 and M1722 mutations had very low levels of linolenic acid (<2%) and high levels of linoleic acid (>46%).Key words: Flax, linseed, Linum usitatissimum, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, seed oil