A comparison of the positional distribution of fatty acids in milk triglycerides of the extant monotremes platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) and echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)

P W Parodi; M Griffiths

doi:10.1007/BF02534646

A comparison of the positional distribution of fatty acids in milk triglycerides of the extant monotremes platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) and echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)

Lipids. 1983 Nov;18(11):845-7. doi: 10.1007/BF02534646.

Authors

P W Parodi¹, M Griffiths²

Affiliations

¹ Fats Research Laboratory, The Butter Marketing Board, Hamilton Central, 4007, Queensland, Australia.
² Division of Wildlife and Rangelands Research, C.S.I.R.O., Canberra, A.C.T., Australia.

PMID: 27519991
DOI: 10.1007/BF02534646

Abstract

Milk triglycerides from the platypus were subjected to fatty acid and stereospecific analysis to determine the positional distribution of fatty acids in the triglycerides. Of the major fatty acids, 12∶0 was preferentially esterified at thesn-3 position, 14∶0 and 16∶0 were selectively associated with thesn-2 position, and 18∶0 was located predominantly at thesn-1 position. The unsaturated fatty acids, 14∶1, 16∶1, 18∶1, 18∶2 and 18∶3, were preferentially esterified at thesn-3 position. The fatty acid distribution pattern of the platypus, a monotreme, is similar to that of marsupials and eutherians but is in contrast to the only other extant monotreme, the echidna.