Common mistakes about fatty acids identification by gas–liquid chromatography

A growing number of research articles currently present the occurrence of certain fatty acids (FAs) such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3), not only where they naturally occur (in the seedless plants), but also in higher plants, despite cautionary statements published about this topic more than 20 years ago. In these newer articles, the identification of FAs is being performed using gas–liquid chromatography (GLC). In the present commentary the general scheme of FA biosynthesis in plants is reviewed, with a renewed warning about the need to use confirmatory techniques such as GLC–mass spectrometry (GLC–MS) to identify any uncertain FAs detected in higher plants.