Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Industrial Crops and Products

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop

Linseed, the multipurpose plant

Magdalena Zuk a,b,∗ , Dorota Richter c , Jan Matuła c , Jan Szopa a,b,c
a
Faculty of Biotechnology, Wroclaw University, Przybyszewskiego 63/77, 51-148 Wroclaw, Poland
b
Linum Foundation, Pl. Grunwaldzki 24a, 50-363 Wroclaw, Poland
c
University of Natural Sciences, Pl. Grunwaldzki 24a, 50-363 Wroclaw, Poland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The oilseed flax (linseed) (Linum usitatissimum L.) is predominantly the source of valuable oil, in which the
Received 19 January 2015 most appreciated are omega-3 fatty acids. The extensive biochemical analysis of linseed oil resulted in the
Received in revised form 5 May 2015 identification of its other components with potential application in improvement of human health. The
Accepted 7 May 2015
focus is now on them and they are of particular interest for human nutrition, cosmetic and pharmaceutical
Available online 27 May 2015
industry. Linseed plant also provides seedcakes (linseed expeller), fibers and shives as by-products. The
recent development of analytical methods allowed to determine several valuable compounds in these
Keywords:
materials have made them thereby more appealing to industry. Besides lignocellulose biomass, which
Linseed plant
Oil
is mainly used for components of polymer composites or liquid/gas fuel production, phenylpropanoids
Seedcake and terpenoids are the major constituents that contribute to bioactive properties of the linseed by-
Fiber products. Antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory activities are assigned to these
Shives biochemistry compounds. These findings led to the diversification of linseed plant application. This review outlines
Application of linseed products oil, seedcake, and fiber and shives biochemistry and describes their potential application. It is expected
Value-added linseed products that the development of value-added products from linseed plant might greatly improve the economic
viability of its cultivation. Moreover, the use of linseed plant as a whole to produce innovative industrial
products would enhance the sustainability of natural resources.
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction While linseed cultivars are rather grown in continental climate

Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is generally regarded as a dual-
purpose crop plant due to its main products, the fiber and seed.
Since many year ago, the fiber has been converted to yarn, which
served as a major source to manufacture textiles for table or bed
coverings and clothing, whereas seeds have been pressed to extract
edible oil. Marginally, shives and straw, mainly from linseed flax,
were also used to seal and thermally insulate homes.
Probably originating from Middle East, flax plant was sub-
sequently introduced to several other world regions including
Europe. Disruptive selection through thousands of years of flax
domestication has resulted in its diversification into oilseed and
fibrous plant types. Both types differ substantially in phenotype
and physiology. Linseed flax grows up to 40–60 cm tall with highly
branched stem, while fibrous plant grows up to 80–120 cm and is
less branched.
∗ Corresponding author at: Faculty of Biotechnology, Wroclaw Univer-
sity, Przybyszewskiego 63/77, 51-148 Wroclaw, Poland. Tel.: +48 71 3756326;
fax: +48 71 3252930.
E-mail address: mzuk@ibmb.uni.wroc.pl (M. Zuk).
regions, fiber flax cultivars are preferably grown in cool, moist
climate condition. Cultivation region of the world, water stress,
high temperature and disease occurrence affect growth parame-
ters. For example, flax seedlings can withstand a temperature of
−4 ◦ C, but very high temperatures (exceeding 32 ◦ C) could shorten
stem length and flowering period, thereby affecting fiber or seed
yield.
The flax popularity lasted until the middle of the last century,
when flax fiber was gradually forced out of the market by synthetic
fibers and cotton. However, the recently growing demand for flax
as a source of new raw materials has triggered the renewal of its
cultivation in the world.
According to the last available issue of FAO statistics (http://
faostat3.fao.org/faostat-gateway), in 2013 the global world linseed
production (area harvested) was 2,252,104 ha The significant lin-
seed flax cultivation areas were located in Canada (412,000 ha),
– the “traditional” leader of linseed cultivation, followed by
Russian Federation (410,000 ha) and Kazakhstan (384,300 ha) –
the two countries indicating the highest stable increase in lin-
seed production during last five years, India (338,000 ha), China
(312,890 ha). Far lower area was reported for United States of

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2015.05.005
0926-6690/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
166 M. Zuk et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177
America (56,960 ha), Ukraine (55,000 ha), Argentina (14,600 ha),
Egypt (5000 ha) and of the EU countries the highest area of lin-
seed cultivation was located in United Kingdom (34,000 ha), France
(8510 ha), and Belgium (7900 ha), Spain (7000 ha) while the other
countries like Sweden (4400 ha), Germany (3700 ha), Romania
(3042 ha), Italy (3000 ha), Netherlands (1881 ha), Czech Repub-
lic (1513 ha) and Poland (1470 ha) cultivated the linseed rather
for local niche market and experimental purposes than for global
industry. The top producers of linseed oil for global market were
China (120,765 t), Belgium (104,916 t) and USA (102,965 t), fol-
lowed by India (42,000 t) and Germany (41,100 t), supplying all
together 75 % of the world linseed oil production.
According to the FAO statistics, there has been a decline in lin-
seed production over last decade almost everywhere in the world.
Depending on the country, there was a 10–60% drop in produc-
tion, which was perhaps associated with linseed offering lower
returns to farmers than most other grains (e.g. wheat and corn)
or oilseeds (e.g. rapeseed). The decrease of linseed area harvested
can be observed in case of Western Europe countries in the last
decade (after 2000 year). The possible reason of such situation can
be removal of fiber flax and linseed subsidies that growers had been
receiving to grow this crop. Thankfully at the same time in Eastern
Europe especially in Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus the signif-
icant increase (more than 2.5 fold during last five years) of linseed
production was noticed.
There are also other signs that linseed has once again taken a
prominent position in studies of crop plants. One of the most sig-
nificant is the fact that recently the sequence of flax nuclear genome
was assembled and published. (Wang et al., 2012). It boosted the
genomics research on flax evolution, selecting improved pheno-
types, breeding lines and designing new varieties. The goal of
the total utilization flax GENomics (TUFGEN) project launched by
Genome Prairie was maximizing the utility of flax by developing
genomic-based tools to help crop breeding, improve field perfor-
mance and enhance, seed and fiber properties in period of July
2009–December 2014. Now and in the future, flax is very likely
to be included in more projects involving analysis of the genomic
information aiming to improve its traits and yield to make it more
economically feasible.
Basically, linseed products might be used in different branches
of industry. Linseed plant utilization for food, feed, and fiber, as well
as processing of flaxseed has been recently deeply reviewed (Singh
et al., 2011).
This paper presents an extensive review of literature on the
biochemical composition and biomedical application of linseed
common products, including the fiber and oil, together with newly
recognized products, like the extracts from shives and seedcake.
Another aim of this review is indicating the possible direct or after
processing way of commercial utilization for almost every part of
linseed plant.
Numerous prospective applications of linseed are pointed out
in this review, including its use as a valuable source of compounds
important in human anticancer and anti-atherosclerosis prophy-
laxis, as well as the production of preparations that might be used
as an alternative antibiotic against pathogenic microbes and the
moisture-absorbing bandages rich in antioxidants. Thus, consid-
ering such promising and wide spectrum of linseed applications,
there is a hope that linseed will again become popular and highly
prized plant in the nearest future.
One of the concerns of “Plants for the Future”, a strategic
research plan for 20 years of development of European agricul-
ture run by the European Technology Platform (ETP) (European
Technology Platform, 2007) was improvement of plant fibers and
innovations in fiber applications. In their view, for fiber various
applications it is crucial to gain control of cell wall composition and
the interaction of cell wall components to determine fiber charac-
teristics. Understanding of the complex genetic and biochemical
background of fiber formation is of high importance to industry
and would enable us to deliver valuable fibers corresponding to
the high demands of industry. Another problem addressed by this
document is the progressive decline of minor crops cultivation. The
increase of crop biodiversity would benefit human diet by diver-
sification of food sources. The lipid composition of linseed seeds
was pointed out as well-suited source of essential fatty acids for
human and animal nutrition. Linseed was recognized as one of the
oil crops good for production of advanced biofuels by European
biofuels technology platform (EBTP).
The flax is now also covered by the USA – United Stage States
Department of Agriculture (USDA program, 2015) and the EU.
Implementation of direct payments by the EU aims to increase
productivity, stabilize farmers’ income, and secure crop diversifi-
cation and availability of goods for the market. According to the
Regulation (EU) No. 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of
Council (European Commission, 2013), the coupled support may be
granted by Member States to production and sectors of particular
importance for economic, social or environmental reasons, as well
as those undergoing difficulties, and flax was included in them.
2. Structure and biochemistry of linseed products
2.1. Seeds and oil
Mature seeds are a source of several important products for
industrial purposes. For example, leguminous species are a source
of valuable proteins, cereals provides carbohydrate and oily seeds
serve as a source of lipids. Total fat content in the linseed plant
was 35–46%, total protein accounted for 18–25%, and carbohydrate
constituted 23–30%. Linoleic acid concentration was in the range
from 16 to 75% and alpha-linolenic acid varied from 1.7 to 59%. The
ash content of linseed varieties was between 3 and 5%. Genotype
and environmental conditions significantly affect linseed proper-
ties (Singh et al., 2013; Soto-Cerda et al., 2014; Thambugala et al.,
2013).
The seed comprises the seed coat, embryo, endosperm and stor-
age material in the form of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, etc. The
outer seed coat layer, the testa, is thick, wavy and shiny, while the
inner layer, called the tegmen, is thin (Fig. 1).
Below is a single layer of epidermal cells, which covers the next
1–5 layers of parenchyma cells. They are called ring cells and might
contain tannin and chlorophyll, which contribute to the seed color.
The mostly colorless sclerenchyma is a unicellular layer located
below the ring cells. At least the next two cell layers are formed by
transversal cells with irregular orientation. Another layer of cells is
the endosperm, containing oil and protein. It surrounds the embryo,
which has two cotyledons. Usually, the cotyledons are white or yel-
lowish and also contain oil. The embryo consists of an embryonic
axis, at which both ends are growing points. The upper growing
point forms the shoot system while the lower forms the root sys-
tem. The seed is attached to the ovary wall by the funiculus, a short
stalk.
The average yield of linseed oil pressed from the seeds was
35–50% of the seed weight. The most frequently found fatty acids
in linseed oil are: palmitic acid (6%), stearic acid (2.5%), oleic acid
(19%), linoleic acid (13%) and alpha-linolenic acid (55%). The oil
content and fatty acid composition often change due to crop adap-
tation to regional growing seasons as well as environmental effects
(Cloutier et al., 2011). For example, in Canada the oil content var-
ied up to 15% in individual farm samples (Duguid, 2009). Also the
percentage of alpha-linolenic acid might increase (ca. 5%) in a cool
environment (Fofana et al., 2006).
 M. Zuk et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177
Fig. 1. Seed morphology.
Longitudinal section (A) and cross-section (B) of linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.):
embryo (em); seed coat (sc) also called the testa; cotyledons (seed leaves), (sl);
endosperm (en); epicotyl (epc); hypocotyl (hy); radicle (ra); mucilage cell (muc);
epidermis (ep); parenchymatous layer (pl); sclerite layer (sl); membraniform layer
(ml); brown layer (bl); endosperm (en).
The high percentage of alpha-linolenic acid causes the oxida-
tive instability of linseed oil, and therefore it is mainly used in the
chemical industry as a component of paints, inks and varnishes.
Improved oxidative stability has been obtained by altering the fatty
acid profile, for example by lowering alpha-linolenic and increas-
ing linoleic acid content. Ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS)-mediated
mutagenesis caused a point mutation in fatty acid desaturase 3
(FAD3), resulting in non-functional enzymatic activity and thus
reducing the level of alpha-linolenic acid and accumulation of
linoleic acid (Vrinten et al., 2005).
Genetic engineering has also been used for altering the fatty
acid profile in the linseed plant. Examples are expression of an
exogenous gene from potato (Solanum sogarandinum L.) of gluco-
syl transferase modifying flavonoid compounds (GT plant type)
or simultaneous expression of three key genes of the flavonoid
pathway coding chalcone synthase, chalcone isomerase and dihy-
droflavonol reductase, all derived from petunia (Petunia hybrida L.)
167
(W92 plant type) and silencing of the endogenous chalcone syn-
thase gene (W86 plant type), resulting in variations of fatty acid
profiles. W86 oil showed a 10-fold increase in the omega-3 fatty
acid level. In contrast, a 10% increase in the level of omega-6 was
detected in W92 type (Table 1).
Besides favorable changes in fatty acids profile, these results
showed for the first time the regulatory connection between sepa-
rate metabolic pathways (i.e. phenylpropanoid and fatty acid). The
variations in polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content affect oil
stability. The thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) mea-
surements show a decrease in the level of oxidation products by
10.21, 50.93 and 86.53% for W86, GT and W92 oil, respectively, in
comparison to control plants (data not published yet). Since the
levels of omega-3 fatty acid in GT and W92 types were almost the
same, while oxidative status substantially changed, the intriguing
question arises: what are the other compounds involved in fatty
acid protection against oxidation?
To identify the compounds that might participate in oil sta-
bility, content of water- and lipid-soluble antioxidants in the oil
was recently determined (Table 2). Of water-soluble components
(0.05 ␮g/g FW) vanillin was identified as the most abundant (45%)
phenolic compound in linseed oil. The other identified compo-
nents are non-hydrolysable (proanthocyanidins) and hydrolysable
tannins (5.4 and 3.0%, respectively), p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid,
caffeic acid, coniferyl and syringic aldehyde (10, 16, 3, 9 and 7%,
respectively) and small amounts of flavonoids, probably luteolin
and kaempferol derivatives. Lipid-soluble secondary metabolites
are highly (0.9 mg/g FW) represented in oil. Among these compo-
nents, ␥-tocopherol (50%), plastochromanol-8 (44.5%), lutein (3%)
and ␤-carotene (1.5%) have been found in linseed oil. The high-
est positive correlation coefficient was obtained for total phenolic
content and oil stability. Thus, it suggests that accumulation of com-
pounds from the phenylpropanoid pathway is required for linseed
oil stability improvement. High oxidative stability of linseed oil
enhances its application not only in the chemical industry but also
for biomedical application.
Several clinical research studies in humans have aimed at
assessing the efficacy of linseed bioactivity in health and disease.
For example, many research reports suggest the beneficial impact
of a diet high in alpha-linolenic acid from linseed oil on reduc-
ing markers of oxidative stress and inflammation associated with
risk of many common chronic diseases (e.g. atherosclerosis) (Goyal
et al., 2014).
From a biochemical point of view, polyunsaturated fatty acids
intake modulates membrane lipid composition. Consumption of
linseed oil protects against the negative consequences of unbal-
anced human diet, and prevents or delays the onset of chronic
diseases (for example atherosclerosis) through reducing the bur-
den of oxidative stress and generation of anti-inflammatory
mediators.
In the light of recent experiments, it is evident that a well-
balanced diet might contribute to cardiovascular disease and breast
cancer treatment in a positive manner. In a very recent study, the
effect of flax seed daily ingestion on blood pressure of periph-
eral artery disease patients was examined (Rodriguez-Leyva et al.,
2013). Those patients that entered the trial with blood pres-
sure (BP) ≥ 140 mm Hg and ingested daily 30 g of milled flaxseed
with the food for 6 months showed a significant reduction (ca.
15 mm Hg) in BP. The reduction in BP correlated with circulating
alpha-linolenic acid and lignan levels. Thus, it was concluded that
linseed included in the daily diet induced an anti-hypersensitive
effect.
Linseed intake might be associated with decreased risk of breast
cancer. Its daily ingestion of 25 g increased the tumor apoptotic
index and reduced cell proliferation among breast cancer patients
(Flower et al., 2013).
168 M. Zuk et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177

Table 1
Fatty acid composition in GM and control flax oil.a,b

Control (mg/gFW) GT (mg/gFW) W92 (mg/gFW) W86 (mg/gFW)

16:0 12.62 ± 0.44 10.09 ± 0.35 13.89 ± 1.02 12.53 ± 0.94

16:1 0.16 ± 0.00 0.20 ± 0.05 0.27 ± 0.01 0.21 ± 0.01
16:2 0.12 ± 0.64 0.14 ± 0.01 0.18 ± 0.00 0.16 ± 0.00
16:3 0.10 ± 0.01 0.13 ± 0.04 0.15 ± 0.02 0.12 ± 0.01
18:0 7.52 ± 0.34 8.50 ± 0.05 7.03 ± 0.53 7.38 ± 0.98
18:1 41.75 ± 4.64 41.49 ± 3.87 32.11 ± 3.47 54.22 ± 4.08
18:2 147.00 ± 3.34 181.72 ± 3.24 197.84 ± 4.44 102.88 ± 2.94
18:3 4.43 ± 0.64 5.51 ± 7.98 6.06 ± 0.88 132.83 ± 6.91
20:0 0.26 ± 0.00 0.23 ± 0.00 0.16 ± 0.00 0.24 ± 0.01
20:1 0.19 ± 0.03 0.33 ± 0.04 0.30 ± 0.02 0.27 ± 0.00
22:0 0.12 ± 0.02 0.14 ± 0.00 0.15 ± 0.00 0.15 ± 0.00
22:1 0.10 ± 0.00 0.19 ± 0.04 0.20 ± 0.00 0.18 ± 0.00
24:0 0.03 ± 0.00 0.04 ± 0.00 0.05 ± 0.00 0.05 ± 0.00
Saturated fatty acids 20.55 ± 2.44 18.55 ± 2.34 21.28 ± 2.15 20.35 ± 1.99
Polyunsaturated fatty acids 151.65 ± 3.64 247.54 ± 4.85 204.23 ± 5.24 235.99 ± 5.04
Total fatty acids 214.4 ± 5.87 304.61 ± 5.64 258.39 ± 4.98 311.22 ± 6.02
a
GT – plants with overexpression of glucosyl transferase, W92-plants with simultaneous expression of three key genes of the flavonoid pathway coding chalcone synthase,
chalcone isomerase and dihydroflavonol reductase, W86-plant with silencing of the endogenous chalcone synthase gene
b
Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were extracted from the oil using 0.5 M KOH in methanol. The methyl esters were quantified by gas chromatography (Agilent Technology
6890N with FID detector) using pentadecanoic acid as an internal standard (Zuk et al., 2011a,b, 2012; Lorenc-Kukula et al., 2009).

Table 2
Biochemical composition of flax seeds, seedcake and oil.a

Compounds Seeds (mg/g FW) Seedcake (mg/g FW) Oil (␮g/g)

Ferulic acid 6.03 ± 0.022 5.73 ± 0.029 0.008 ± 0.001

Ferulic acid glucoside 15.28 ± 0.026 14.88 ± 0.041 n/d
Coumaric acid 3.66 ± 0.018 3.41 ± 0.019 0.005 ± 0.001
Coumaric acid glucoside 10.34 ± 0.041 1.06 ± 0.035 n/d
Caffeic acid 0.66 ± 0.01 0.61 ± 0.01 0.0015 ± 0.005
Caffeic acid glucoside 7.16 ± 0.009 6.36 ± 0.009 n/d
3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid 0.04 ± 0.001 0.04 ± 0.001 0.0001 ± 0.000
Secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) 133.1 ± 0.387 120.1 ± 0.387 n/d
Vanillin 0.01 ± 0.00 0.01 ± 0.00 0.0227 ± 0.001
Syringic aldehyde 0.02 ± 0.001 n/d 0.0037 ± 0.001
Coniferyl aldehyde 0.02 ± 0.003 0.02 ± 0.001 0.0047 ± 0.001
Vitexin 0.28 ± 0.005 0.13 ± 0.001 n/d
Proanthocyanidin 0.25 ± 0.002 0.21 ± 0.002 0.0015 ± 0.001
Hydrolysable tannins 0.48 ± 0.001 0.43 ± 0.001 0.0027 ± 0.001
␥-Tocopherol 8.337 ± 0.61 2.467 ± 0.55 459.1 ± 4.95
Plastochromanol-8 1.148 ± 0.07 0.256 ± 0.042 403.54 ± 2.06
Lutein 0.046 ± 0.01 0.013 ± 0.002 29.97 ± 0.36
␤-carotene 0.014 ± 0.01 0.004 ± 0.001 13.98 ± 0.431

n/d –not determined.

a
Alkali hydrolyzed materials were methanol extracted – for phenylpropanoid compounds analysis or chloroform extracted – for hydrophobic compounds analysis, obtained
extracts were resolved on UPLC–MS and quantify using commercial standards (Zuk et al., 2011a,b).

Supplementation of the diet with omega-3 fatty acids, lignans
and a large group of antioxidants (phenylpropanoids, terpenoids)
from linseed should be recommended for prevention of human
civilization diseases.
2.2. Seedcake (linseed expeller)
Biochemical analysis of methanol extract from linseed expeller
revealed the presence of several compounds from the phenyl-
propanoid pathway. A higher number of compounds was identified
after seedcake alkali hydrolysis. Based on retention time and UV
spectra of respective standards, the UPLC analysis of seedcake
extract obtained by alkali hydrolysis revealed the presence of
phenolic acids and their glucoside derivatives (21%), lignan (78%)
and low quantities of other phenolics. All these compounds are
regarded as strong antioxidants, and thus it is suggested that
they might be involved in protection of fatty acids against oxi-
dation during seed storage and industrial oil extraction. Indeed,
engineered linseed plants accumulating phenylpropanoids (mainly
hydrolysable tannins) produces oil with a significantly increased
quantity (5-fold) of omega-3 fatty acids in comparison to control
plants (Zuk et al., 2012). Thus, the obtained results strongly suggest
that fatty acid composition and yield depend on the antioxidative
status of seeds.
The antioxidant capacity of aqueous extracts of seedcakes was
shown to be used to prevent lipid oxidation in pork meatballs.
The aqueous extract from the seedcakes protect the lipids against
oxidation to a higher extent (Waszkowiak and Rudzinska, 2014).
In another report, the effect of ethanol linseed extracts on lipid
stability and changes in nutritive value of frozen-stored meat prod-
ucts was determined. During 150-day storage of meat products
the lipid oxidation was monitored, and the data showed that the
ethanol extract significantly limited lipid oxidation in stored meat-
balls and burgers (Waszkowiak et al., 2014).
It should also be pointed out that linseed seedcakes are a rich
source of secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG). It is important to
note the beneficial role of this compound for human health. There
are several reports confirming the role of SDG in protection against
different kinds of cancer (Flower et al., 2013; Goyal et al., 2014).
2.3. Fibers
Flax is mainly a source of fibers that are produced in the outer
region of its stem. The straws from fibrous flax have been studied
 M. Zuk et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177 169

over a long period of time. The anatomical structure of straw from Table 3
Biochemical composition of flax fibers and shives.a
fibrous flax is well described in numerous publications; for review
see (Akin, 2003). The stem cross-section reveals the cuticle layer Compounds Fibers (ug/g DW) Shives (ug/g DW)
on the surface of the epidermis, parenchyma cells within the epi- Ferulic acid 82.5 ± 0.5 34.85 ± 4.7
dermis surrounding fiber bundles, which are formed by bast fibers Ferulic acid glucoside 291.6 ± 0.14 169.03 ± 2.5
arranged in bundles, cambium cells and woody core cells. The ligni- Coumaric acid 0.54 ± 0.04 72.56 ± 7.8
fied woody core cells constitute the fraction called shives produced Coumaric acid glucoside 0.24 ± 0.05 60.78± 5.7
Caffeic acid 0.05 ± 0.01 6.37 ± 0.82
during fiber extraction from straw.
Caffeic acid glucoside 0.03 ± 0.01 10.02 ± 8.7
The linseed stem anatomy shows the same arrangement. How- p-Hydroxybenzoic acid 2.91 ± 0.01 n/d
ever, the linseed phenotype is exceptional. The linseed plant grows 3,4-Dihydroxybenzoic acid 26.82 ± 0.25 32.77 ± 4.91
up to 40–60 cm tall. Its leaves are grayish green, 20–40 mm long Vanilic acid 6.56 ± 0.1 41.90 ± 0.1
Vanillin 193.44 ± 0.1 319.9 ± 3.4
and 3 mm broad. In over 60% of cases, the flowers are blue in color,
Acetovanillone 73.32 ± 0.31 34.18 ± 4.08
15–20 mm in diameter and have five petals. The seeds are medium Acetosiringon 110.52 ± 0.45 56.46 ± 8.95
brown (ca. 95% cultivars) or yellow (ca. 4% cultivars), 4–7 mm long Syringic aldehyde 18.13 ± 0.01 39.04 ± 1.34
and become sticky when wet. The color of the seeds depends on the Syringic acid 0.75 ± 0.01 12.27 ± 0.27
variety. The linseed life cycle consists of 116–130 days of vegetative Coniferyl aldehyde 2.15 ± 0.05 86.63 ± 5.76
Vitexin 1.65 ± 0.01 1.78 ± 0.46
period, 45–60 days of flowering period and a maturation period of
Proanthocyanidin 0.83 ± 0.01 1.23 ± 0.31
60–90 days (Zajac ˛ et al., 2005). Hydrolysable tannins 1.09 ± 0.01 2.65 ± 0.56
Fiber yields vary according to variety, environment or agro- Canabidiol 0.004 ± 0.00 0.007 ± 0.00
nomic practices, but total fiber yields of ca. 15% of straw dry weight Phitosterols 0.123 ± 0.01 0.228 ± 0.01
Lutein 0.001 ± 0.00 0.002 ± 0.00
are possible. In the case of fibrous flax fiber, yields are almost 2
Sqalene 0.003 ± 0.00 0.007 ± 0.00
times higher (25–30% of straw dry weight), and the yield of seed
production is 2–2.5 times higher (Heller et al., 2015) in the case n/d –not determined.
a
Alkali hydrolyzed materials were methanol extracted – for phenylpropanoid
of linseed plants. For greater seed production, linseed varieties are
compounds analysis or chloroform extracted – for hydrophobic compounds anal-
sown at low densities (ca. 750 plants/m2 ). Plants grown in these ysis, obtained extracts were resolved on UPLC–MS and quantify using commercial
conditions are intensively branching and when they achieve full standards(Zuk et al., 2011a,b).
seed maturity have thick stems and produce fiber of low quality.
In summary, the linseed plant phenotype differs from its fibrous
counterpart due to its shorter and highly branched stem, produc- Cellulose is the basic structural component (60–65%) of flax
ing a higher quantity of seeds but a smaller amount of low-grade fibers. The other component important for fiber structure is lignin
fibers. (2–5%), which provides rigidity to the plant. Incrustation of the
The plant cell is surrounded by the cell wall, which is a relatively cell wall by lignin hardens it and reduces its water content, which
rigid structure composed mainly of saccharide and phenolic poly- results in a lower elasticity. Pectins and hemicelluloses, the other
mers. After plant maturation and harvesting, all that remains of the fiber constituents (5–7 and 15%, respectively), are mainly respon-
elementary fiber is the cell wall. Flax fibers are classified as stem sible for binding single fibers into bundles, and are predominantly
fibers. They are cellulose-rich bast fibers that contain little lignin released during retting. However, they are also present in the pri-
and can be found in the outer non-woody stem tissues. It should mary wall of individual fibers, and thus are constituents of the fibers
be noted that lignin, which is relatively low in quantity, has an themselves (Preisner et al., 2014).
extremely important impact on both the mechanical and chemical Apart from lignocellulose polymers, the fiber contains a number
properties of plant fibers, and therefore represents a major target of secondary metabolites from the phenylpropanoid and iso-
for engineering. prenoid pathways. A recently developed fiber extraction method
Similarly to fibrous plant, linseed fiber exists in bundles of indi- based on alkali hydrolysis and organic phase extraction followed
vidual fiber strands (Fig. 2). by UPLC–MS analysis has allowed those compounds to be isolated
The outer secondary cell wall (densely packed) G-layer of the and identified (Preisner et al., 2014; Zuk et al., 2011a,b). The fiber
secondary cell wall is rich in cellulose microfibrils and crystalline contains mainly ferulic acid. Its glycosidic derivative and simple
cellulose and poor in galactan (hemicelluloses), while the Gn-layer phenylpropanoids from the benzoic route in the total quantity of
of the secondary cell wall is rich in galactan and poor in cellulose 0.5 mg/g DW, vanillin, acetovanillone and hydroxybenzoic acid are
microfibrils (loosely packed). included in this route. Flavonoids in a low concentration were rep-
The elementary fibers are bound together end to end by pectin resented by vitexin (Table 3).
to form bundles. Each bundle consists of 10–40 individual fibers, Apart from the crucial function in plants, such as growth
that are about 20–30 mm long and 0.015–0.020 mm in diameter. regulation, protection from environmental stress and defense sig-
The fiber lengths vary depending on the position in the stem. naling, many phenylpropanoids possess beneficial properties for
The bundles that are oval in shape display high quality while human health. For example, they exhibit antioxidative proper-
those irregularly shaped show poor quality (Van Sumere, 1992). ties (flavonoids, phenolic acids, lignins), bacterio- and mycostatic
Linseed straw offers low-grade fibers, which cannot be used for properties (vanillin and its derivatives, benzenoid derivatives)
fine linen textile. Therefore for years, linseed straw was treated or anti-neoplastic and anti-inflammatory properties (naringenin,
as a by-product, which was burned or chopped to spread on kaempferol, lignans). Moreover, benzenoid derivatives are cru-
fields. However, recently linseed fiber has managed to meet the cial structural elements of many important compounds of plant
demands of the composite and specialty paper industry by provid- metabolism, such as glucosinolate esters (Arabidopsis thaliana
ing value-added products and in this way might improve farming L.), phenolic glycosides and xanthones (Hypericum androsaemum
economy. L.), cocaine (Erythroxylum coca Lam.) and taxol (Taxus cuspidate
Cellulose, hemicellulose and pectin are structural carbohydrates L.). Recently it has been shown that cinnamic acid, vanillin and
and are the main chemical constituents of nearly all plant cells coumarin enhance transformation of green algae by Agrobacterium
and tissues. These biopolymers are the greatest sources of natu- better than commonly used acetosyringone (Cha et al., 2011). Very
ral and renewable compounds for putative application in industry, important for potential biomedical application of linseed fibers
in particular the power branch, and in medicine. is presence of canabidiol–the potentially anti-inflammatory com-
170 M. Zuk et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177

Fig. 2. Stem morphology.

Cross-section of linseed phloem fibers (Linum usitatissimum L.): (A) epidermis (ep), hypodermis (hd), bundle of phloem fibers (bph), endodermis (en), primary phloem (pph),
secondary phloem (sph), cambium (ca), secondary xylem (sxy); (B) a distinct border between G-layer and Gn-layer is visible in phloem fibers (arrows); (C) elementary phloem
fibers (eph), middle lamellae (ml), plasmalemma (pm), lumen (lu), secondary cell wall (scw), primary cell wall (pcw); (D) elementary phloem fibers, gn – newly deposited
gelatinous layer of secondary cell wall, g – mature gelatinous layer of secondary cell wall.

pound (Styrczewska et al., 2012). In the fiber the small content of
fatty acids, fitosterols (predominantly ␤-sitosterol) and lutein were
noticed (Styrczewska unpublished data). All this compound which
are identified in flax fiber will be released to body fluids when we
use linen dressing or positively influence our condition when we
wear or use linen textile.
Recently, FT-IR spectroscopy has been found to be very suitable
to detect the major chemical components of flax fiber (Zuk et al.,
2011a,b). The broad absorption band at 3400 cm−1 corresponds
to the stretching (OH) mode of the free hydroxyl groups and
those involved in the intra- and inter-molecular hydrogen bonds
O H· · ·O of the glucopyranose system. The changes in the inten-
sity of the 3400 cm−1 band components resulted from different
cellulose polymer conformation (Fig. 3).
It has commonly been accepted that the most diagnostic region
characterizing the pectin and lignin constituents of fibers is the
1400–1800 cm−1 region of IR spectra (Wrobel-Kwiatkowska et al.,
2009). The characteristic band of pectin is that at 1733 cm−1 , which
corresponds to the vibration of the free carboxyl group. The compo-
nent at about 1610 cm−1 corresponds to the symmetric stretching
vibrations of ionized COO− groups of pectins. It should be noted
that the degree of fiber retting (pectin release) follows the inten-
 M. Zuk et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177
Fig. 3. Example of IR vibrational spectra of linseed fiber.
sity of the pectin bands. Therefore, it was suggested that the data
for the pectin content measured by FT-IR is more precise than those
from the biochemical method.
For lignin, the characteristic bands are observed at 1661 and
1510 cm−1 . The band at 1661 cm−1 has been considered as origi-
nating from water associated with lignin and that at 1510 cm−1 as
corresponding to the stretching of the aromatic skeleton of the lig-
nans. The integral intensity of this band measured for lignin in flax
fiber confirms the data from biochemical analysis.
2.4. Shives
Shives are the waste material after fiber extraction from flax
straw. They are comprised of lignocellulose polymers and contain
a number of heterogeneous compounds from phenylpropanoid and
isoprenoid pathways. The quantitative analysis of linseed shives is
for the first time reported in this review. Lignocellulose is a complex
assembly of cellulose, hemicelluloses and pectin and the phenolic
polymer of lignin. The amounts of these polymers, their proportions
and monomer composition are different than in fiber.
Cellulose accounts for about 56% of shives weight, whereas
hemicelluloses constitute approximately 15% of it. The last two
components, pectin and lignin, are present in shives in differ-
ent amounts, compromising together approximately 23% of shives
weight. The remaining 6% are phenolics (0.13%) and ash consisting
of waxes and inorganic compounds.
As in fibers, cellulose fibrils in shives are embedded in lamella
composed of pectin and hemicelluloses. The structure is reinforced
by lignin, which is covalently bonded to hemicelluloses. Lignin is
a highly complex, heterogeneous biopolymer with no defined pri-
mary structure.
The knowledge on shives constituents and their quantity is
mainly derived from chemical methods. The sequential release of
shives components and measurements of their levels are com-
monly performed. Recently infrared spectroscopy has been applied
to characterize the vibrational properties of the major components
of flax shives at the molecular level. As in other cases, a good diag-
nostic probe for lignocellulose complexes from shives is the bands
at 3200–3400 cm−1 corresponding to the (OH· · ·O) vibrations of
the intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds (HB) of cellulose and
the 1500–1800 cm−1 region corresponding to four types of carboxyl
groups present in pectin and lignin constituents. The data from
IR spectra confirmed those derived from chemical measurements
(Wróbel-Kwiatkowska et al., 2009; Zuk et al., 2011a,b).
171
Flax shive components show significant biological properties.
For example, they possess antioxidant activity beneficial for their
application as “alternative to antibiotics”. This is mainly due to
phenolic compounds from the phenylpropanoid pathway that are
esterified with pectin and lignin constituents of shives. Examples
of compounds identified in flax shives are presented in Table 3.
Shives contain mainly vanillin and its derivatives and ferulic acid
and its glycosidic form in the total quantity of 0.41 mg/g DW and
0.20 mg/g DW, respectively. Flavonoids are represented by vitexin
(0.002 mg/g DW) in a low concentration. The presence of vanillin
and its derivatives strongly suggest that shives can have antimi-
crobial properties. Indeed, the growth of several species of human
pathogenic bacteria (hospital strains) was inhibited by a shives
extract (data unpublished). Linseed shives will be used as a very
productive medium for mushroom cultivation causing increase in
their yield and health in relation to cultivation on cereal straw. That
is important the previous sterilization of medium based on linseed
shives was not necessary. (Sobieralski et al., 2011)
3. Multipurpose application
For centuries, flax has been used by human society for various
applications. Flax is generally regarded as a dual-purpose plant pro-
viding two main products, fiber and seeds. The fiber derived from
the flax stem is characterized by high strength and durability. The
seeds provide oil rich in omega-3 fatty acids, digestible proteins,
and lignans. In addition, linseed is a good source of high quality
protein and soluble fiber and has considerable potential as a source
of phenolic compounds. Thus, linseed appeared as one of the most
important oilseed crops for industrial purposes, as well as in terms
of being a source of food and feed, and fiber. This aspect of linseed
utilization was comprehensively reviewed recently (Singh et al.,
2011). However, difficulties associated with flax cultivation and
processing, unpredictable quality together with the appearance of
cheaper and more resilient cotton fibers on the market, in com-
bination with flax oil oxidative instability and the introduction of
rapeseed oil onto the market, resulted in falling values of flax in
the world market. However, renewed interest in flax products has
been noted recently. This is due to the research data suggesting
that the flax raw material provides a variety of industrial and health
benefits.
3.1. Seeds and oil
For years, flax seeds were recommended in the human diet,
because of their high content of components beneficial for human
health. Besides polyunsaturated fatty acids, they contain relatively
high quantities of secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG), phenolic
acids and flavonoids.
Flax oil contains high quantities of the essential polyunsaturated
fatty acids alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid (LA). It has
been widely proven that a high level of ALA in the diet can reduce
the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases and limit the produc-
tion of arachidonic acids and other pro-inflammatory eicosanoids.
The linseed fatty acids have been reported to affect cytokine gene
expression. For example, calves supplemented with flax oil (but
not fish oil) tended to show a decrease in the expression of IL-4
and IL-8 genes (Karcher et al., 2014). The simultaneous consump-
tion of omega-3 and omega-6 acids in a proper ratio is essential
in cancer prevention and inflammation reduction. It is fairly well
established that lowering of the risk of diseases by omega-3 fatty
acids is related to cholesterol oxidation. Currently, the typical West-
ern diet contains an excessive amount of omega-6 acids; thus, its
supplementation with a high level of omega-3 fatty acids from flax
oil could be beneficial for consumer health. The most recent reports
172 M. Zuk et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177
strongly support this point of view. For example, two groups of
patients (155 subjects) with idiopathic mild to moderate carpal
tunnel syndrome (the most common entrapment neuropathy in
human) were treated for 4 weeks with placebo or linseed oil. It
was found that linseed oil was effective in the management of
mild and moderate carpal tunnel syndrome, especially in improv-
ing the severity of symptoms and functional status (Hashempur
et al., 2014).
Linseeds used for poultry feeding resulted in more nutritional
eggs known as “omega eggs”. Linseed oil affects bone metabolism
in broilers. Birds fed on linseed oil alone or in combination with
palm oil showed enhanced digestibility of calcium, reduced serum
calcium and increased tibia calcium concentrations (Zhong et al.,
2014).
Also interesting are recent reports on the form of oil that is
applied. For example, rats fed on linseed oil in the form of micro-
emulsions showed higher levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
in the brain synaptic membrane in comparison to rats that were
given oil without emulsion formation. This finding is of great impor-
tance because alpha-linolenic acid needs to be converted to DHA
through the action of desaturase and elongase enzymes, and this
conversion is at a minimal level (<2%) in mammals. A study indi-
cated that application of micro-emulsions can enhance the synaptic
membrane DHA levels and influence the functions associated with
the brain in a beneficial manner (Sugasini and Lokesh, 2014). In
another report, it was suggested that a significant increase in per-
meability parameters of skin might be obtained using linseed oil
together with Span 80, Transcutol P and distilled water in a nano-
emulsion formulation. The optimized nano-emulsion formulation
used as a trans-dermal carrier of therapeutic agents had a small
average globule diameter of 117 nm with a polydispersity index of
0.285 (Kumar et al., 2014).
However, the high content of omega-3 fatty acids makes flax
oil readily oxidized, and thus it has a minor role in the human
diet. Therefore, only a limited number of cultivars with low alpha-
linolenic acid contents (e.g. Linola) are suitable for the commercial
preparation of edible oil (Przybylski, 2005), and even this oil has a
very short shelf life.
In flax grains, lipids can be protected against oxidation by vari-
ous mechanisms, for example, by the activity of antioxidants such
as phenylpropanoids (flavonoids, phenolic acids), carotenoids or
tocochromanols (Amalesh et al., 2011; Smirnoff, 2010). The antioxi-
dant capacity of flavonoids is related to the presence of OH groups,
which may directly bind free radicals and chelate metals (Mira et al.,
2002). By contrast, carotenoids are supposed to act as free radical
scavengers by electron transfer to their double-bond structure.
However, even after cold extraction, most of these mecha-
nisms are no longer operative. Perhaps lipid-soluble antioxidants
(carotenoids) are not effective enough and phenolics are not effec-
tively extracted with oil. To avoid the rapid onset of rancidity, flax
oil is often supplemented with lipid-soluble vitamins A and E and
stored in dark glass jars. As none of these protection methods are
fully satisfactory, genetic engineering has been applied.
Three approaches have been successfully used to manipulate
the content of antioxidants from the phenylpropanoid pathway in
transgenic flax. The overproduction of the flavonoid aglycones, the
accumulation of glycosylated phenylpropanoids or the increased
biosynthesis of tannins resulted in a significant increase in the
content of these compounds in flax seeds and oil. In all cases,
the increase in phenylpropanoid content resulted in the expected
enhancement of the antioxidant properties of the oil extract
and increased oil stability. In comparison to control, the highest
increase in stability, measured as malonyldialdehyde (MDA) con-
tent, was detected for the oil from plants overproducing flavonoids
(86%). A medium increase (50%) was observed for oil from plants
over-accumulating glycosylated derivatives. The lowest (10%) was
obtained in the case of plants overproducing tannins, but it was still
significant for this oil. These data fairly well concurred with those
derived from other studies describing analyses of oil oxidation in
relation to their PUFA content. As seen from studies of the peroxi-
dation of lipid standards, an increasing number of unsaturated C C
bonds enhances the susceptibility to oxidation (Przybylski, 2005).
Thus, it was observed that higher PUFA levels resulted in easier
oil oxidation. However, it is interesting to note that among the
investigated oils, the one from the W86 plant seeds, despite being
richest in omega-3 fatty acids, was the most stable when exposed to
high temperature. This suggests that the lowered stability caused
by a high PUFA content may be overcome when high enough lev-
els of effective antioxidants are present. It is obvious that mainly
the antioxidant content in the oil determines its susceptibility to
oxidation at high temperature.
The data from the measurements of phenolics correlate fairly
well with oil stability. This is in contrast to the terpenoid com-
pounds content, in which case no such correlation has been found,
but there is no doubt that these compounds affect the total antiox-
idant capacity of the oil as well. Experiments performed on both
groups of compounds (using standard substances) and our results
obtained on transgenic plants with overproduction or reduction of
phenylopropanoid or terpenoid compound allow us to claim that
this first group has higher influence on oil stability.
The general conclusion from this study is that water-soluble
antioxidants are more suitable for fatty acid protection against
oxidation rather than lipid-soluble ones, and the most effective
of them are phenolic acids. Furthermore, the engineering of the
phenylpropanoid pathway in flax is beneficial for flax seed oil sta-
bility, and the extent of lipid protection depends on the antioxidant
concentrations.
In addition to preventing rancidity, both types of antioxidants
(phenylpropanoids and terpenoids) could increase the commercial
value of food products based on flax oil and might be beneficial
for human health. When consumed together with PUFA, they can
reduce the risk of various diseases (Heber, 2007).
Recently, the positive effects of feeding with supplements rich
in omega-3 fatty acids on beef cows reproduction were determined
in one of the studies. In another study the dietary treatments had
no effect on pregnancy rates, but the levels of plasma prostaglandin
F and serum progesterone were affected (Richardson et al., 2013;
Scholljegerdes et al., 2014). The prostaglandins are a group of
hormone-like lipid compounds that are derived enzymatically from
fatty acids and have a variety of strong physiological effects, such as
regulating the contraction and relaxation of smooth muscle tissue.
Progesterone, also known as the hormone of pregnancy, is a steroid
hormone involved in the female menstrual cycle, pregnancy (sup-
ports gestation) and embryogenesis in humans and other species.
3.2. Seedcake
The market potential of flax might be further strengthened by
the use of seedcakes, a material which up to now has been used
only marginally for animal feeding.
Recently, flax seedcake extract, rather than intact seedcakes,
has started to be considered as a feasible source of bioactive
compounds. So far, the extract has been studied as a potential anti-
tumor and anti-bacteria agent. For example, the lignan-rich extract
from linseed hulls was investigated as a potent agent reducing the
risk of some chronic hormonal conditions, such as benign prostatic
hyperplasia (BPH). Rats with BPH induced using the testosterone
propionate were fed with a diet containing different quantities of
extract. It was found that the lignan-rich extract significantly inhib-
ited testosterone propionate-induced prostate size, and this effect
was dose dependent (Bisson et al., 2014).
 M. Zuk et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177
Another new aspect of seedcake extract utilization is its potent
antimicrobial activity. The worldwide increase in multidrug resis-
tance of pathogenic bacteria has led to an increasing need for topical
antimicrobial products that can be applied for therapy of infec-
tions. Many of the products are admittedly highly cytotoxic toward
microbial cells, but unfortunately at the same time they have side
effects on human tissue. Thus, searching for products that effec-
tively kill bacteria but do not cause side effects has become an issue
of great importance in modern bio-medical sciences. It was found
that seedcakes from flax plants are a rich source of phenolic com-
pounds potentially active against bacteria. Indeed, the results of the
recent studies on flax plants, including genetically modified plants,
resulted in a potential new, fully natural pharmaceutical product
containing biologically active compounds that exhibit antibacte-
rial properties. For example, in one study a seedcake extract was
tested against sensitive and multidrug-resistant clinical bacterial
strains (Zuk et al., 2014). The alkali hydrolyzed seedcake extract
from genetically modified flax was prepared and its biochemical
composition was carefully analyzed. It was found that seedcake
extract is a rich source of strong antioxidant metabolites such as
coumaric acid, ferulic acid, caffeic acid, and lignan. Antimicrobial
activity of the extract was examined using a minimal inhibitory
concentration (MIC) test on four bacterial species, normally used as
model organisms for analysis of antibiotic resistance, and also clin-
ical strains that acquired resistance to more than three groups of
antibiotics. The extract exhibited strong germicidal activity against
all these species. The antimicrobial activity of standard substances
was also analyzed, and the obtained results suggest that pheno-
lic acids are responsible for antimicrobial activity of flax seedcake
extract. The data lead to the suggestion that flax seedcake extract
may be a suitable candidate for unselective antimicrobial treatment
and that flax-derived natural products are a promising substitute
or even alternative to antibiotic therapy. A potential mechanism of
action based on DNA disintegration and topoisomerase II (gyrase)
inhibition was proposed (Zuk et al., 2014).
3.3. Fiber
Linseed is cultivated mainly as a source of oil for human con-
sumption and manufacturing of environmentally friendly paints or
other industrial products. However, there is a growing demand for
linseed as a source of valuable fiber in the world market, which also
contributed to an expansion of linseed cultivation recently.
The probable reason of this situation will be still growing atten-
tion put on using of linseed fiber – in this situation this plant will be
more valuable for farmers. The big problem, to solve, is the different
dates of maturity of the seeds and maturity of fibers contained in
the stems of linseeds (however, this problem exists mainly in the
cultivation of fibrous flax). This hassle can be omitted in a special
good weather condition flowed by special agricultural treatment
(for example fertilization, planting density) the process of matura-
tion of seeds can be shortened and if the seeds were collected as
soon as possible the straw can be also used to get fiber.
The linseed fibers are being increasingly used in the automobile
and construction industries as an eco-friendly composite material.
Tested biomechanical features of generated composites that con-
tain flax fiber showed improved tensile strength (Li et al., 2013).
Moreover, recently due to legislation requirements the automotive
industry was forced to use innovative and eco-friendly components
in cars.
In recent studies, the influence of fabric made from linseed
fibers on proliferation of cultured fibroblasts was tested. Since cyto-
toxicity and allergy tests on human cultured cells (keratinocytes,
fibroblasts) and laboratory animals were proven to be negative, the
fabrics were used for preparing and testing a wound dressing and
tissue scaffold (Qualley et al., 2012). Active and healed ulcers (scars
173
after ulcers) occur in approximately 1% of the population, with
occurrence of the pathology stated to be more often for women.
Successful treatment that stimulates healing is an essential step
toward eliminating this morbidity, improving quality of patients’
life, and reducing healthcare costs. Subjects (22 persons) suffer-
ing from chronic ulceration of venous origin for at least two years
were treated with a wound dressing. Four-week application of flax
bandage resulted in faster healing, specifically reduced wound exu-
dates and decreased wound size in 55% of patients. Interestingly
and importantly, patients reported that the bandage diminished
the pain accompanying chronic venous ulceration (Skórkowska-
Telichowska et al., 2010).
A composite containing flax fiber embedded in polylactide was
recently used for tissue repair in a rat model. A composite plate
implanted into muscle was very well adopted as a scaffold and
tolerated by surrounding tissue (Gredes et al., 2010).
Linseed fibers are considered as favorable substrates for energy
production. Different methods can be used for utilization of linseed
lignocelluloses, including direct combustion, gasification, pyrol-
ysis, and enzymatic conversion to ethanol and other organic
compounds.
Same research has shown that retted and decorticated linseed
stalks can be processed into a fiber of surprising fineness and with
little loss in strength per fiber. (Anthony, 2002) The short fibers
from linseed straw can be used to generate cottonized flax. When
cotton took over the spinning market, almost all spinning and
weaving equipment was designed to use fibers with the approx-
imate length and diameter of cotton fibers. Hence, a mechanical
process was developed to break down flax fiber that could be spun
on the cotton equipment. The only problem is that fibers suitable
for cottonization should have a linear density of less than 1 tex (like
fibrous flax), while linseed fibers are much thicker. The cottoniza-
tion of linseed fiber is more difficult and complicated than fibrous
flax. This fact makes the cottonization and blending with cotton
much more difficult. However is possible if you use good quality
storm with specially prepared retting system to obtain good qual-
ity fiber. The problem is not with length of fiber because cottonizing
of flax fiber involves reducing the length of the fibers to that suit-
able for cotton machinery. This is normally done by cutting and can
be done also on short fiber from linseed. The only one problem is
thickness of oil flax fiber – but it can be improved by using good
retting system and enzymatic treatment. Of course the problem is
in the costs of this process but this is possible in same conditions.
During the last decade, a new method of cottonising technical
bast fibers (including linseed and hemp fiber) has been developed
at Institute of Natural Fibers, Poznan, Poland and implemented
to Polish industry. The method is based on the use of enzymatic
preparation (Pektopol PT) to facilate de-gumming of the fiber bun-
dles and their easier separation into smaller bundles (elementary
fibers) which can be used to cottonization or to textile production.
(Sedelnik et al., 2006; Cierpucha et al., 2004) Such flax is generally
referred to as cottonized flax, and it is used for clothing production
with the proportion 50–80% with cotton fibers.
The potential of flax fiber as a geotextile to produce mesh that
protects soil from erosion or to reduce the level of dust and erosion
along roads, railroads and building sites should also be pointed out.
The linen non-woven can be applied with under sown grasses or
seeds of other plants to reinforce slopes and embankments and
after taking over this role by rooting plants, mat decomposes and
does not pollute the environment.
Moreover, linseed fiber might also be used for reinforcement of
recycled paper. Paper recycling requires re-pulping, which causes a
loss of paper strength in the next generation. It is believed that the
addition of flax fibers to the pulp might improve the paper strength.
Linseed fiber finds application in production of insulation batts that
might replace glass fiber batts. The mentioned examples prove lin-
174 M. Zuk et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177
seed fiber to be a prospective component of valuable industrial
products.
3.4. Shives
The market potential of linseed might be additionally supported
by the use of shives, application of which used to be limited to
sealing and thermally insulating homes.
The prospective approach might be the conversion of shives’
lignocellulose polymers into bio-products. Lignocellulose biomass
derived from shives is a promising renewable resource for the pro-
duction of bio-based materials, including transportation fuels. The
majority of energy stored in biomass is contained within the poly-
mers of the cell wall. The cell wall is also the major component of
dried biomass by weight. It constitutes approximately 70–90% of
seasoning or drying straw biomass (Allison et al., 2010; Hodgson
et al., 2010).
Currently bio-energy production from agricultural residues is
based on hydrolysis of lignocellulose as the initial step, then enzy-
matic depolymerization by specific bacteria and finally saccharide
fermentation to energy products (Yee et al., 2012). The concen-
tration and composition of the cell wall affect its recalcitrance to
enzymatic deconstruction (saccharification) (Ding et al., 2012). For
example, utilization of the fermentable sugars stored in the car-
bohydrate polymers of the cell wall is limited by the presence of
lignin. Thus, the reduction of lignin content is frequently the cen-
tral approach for biomass improvement (Chen and Dixon, 2007; Li
et al., 2008). Indeed, down-regulation of CAD, the gene controlling
the last step in monolignol biosynthesis, resulted in generation of
a far better substrate for biogas production. Low lignin poplar trees
showed as much as a 15% increase in the efficiency of bioconver-
sion and almost complete hydrolysis of the cellulosic polymer upon
alkaline pre-treatment (Mansfield et al., 2012).
In agreement with this are our own as yet unpublished results.
The efficacy of biogas production was improved when shives from
cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) engineered flax were used.
Lignin reduction (by about 30%) in these shives with the use of RNAi
technology resulted in a 25% increase in the efficiency of biogas
production.
On the other hand, decreasing lignin content might enhance
plant susceptibility to pathogen infection. For example, in flax
down-regulation of the CAD gene by RNAi suppression increased
susceptibility to the pathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum. It has
been shown that the percentage of infected seedlings was two-fold
higher in CAD RNAi lines in relation to control plants (Wróbel-
Kwiatkowska et al., 2007). In A. thaliana L., the CAD double (cad-c
and cad-d) mutants showed increased susceptibility to both an
avirulent and a virulent strain of the bacterial pathogen Pseu-
domonas syringae pv. tomato relative to control plants.
In contrast, in a hybrid poplar (Populus tremula L. × Populus
alba L.), it has been reported that no increase in disease incidence
was observed in antisense COMT or CAD lines in relation to con-
trols (Halpin et al., 2007). The brown midrib (bmr/bm) mutants of
sorghum and maize, which have reduced lignin content, showed
increased resistance to specific fungal pathogens. These and other
studies from a variety of plants indicate that reducing lignin content
and altering its composition do not necessarily increase the suscep-
tibility of bioenergy feedstocks to pathogens (Porter et al., 1978;
Sattler and Funnell-Harris, 2013). The reason for this is that perhaps
pathogen infection leads not only to synthesis of “defense” lignin
but also to the production of numerous other phenylpropanoid
compounds including phenolic phytoalexins, stilbenes, coumarins,
and flavonoids. These compounds are also implicated in plant
defense. In flax, the up-regulation of flavonoids and phenolic acids
derived from the phenylpropanoid pathway induced flax resistance
against pathogen infection (Lorenc-Kukuła et al., 2009).
The GM linseed with increased level of phenylpropanoid com-
pounds indicated also higher tolerance for cold condition and can
be sown two weeks before control. Winter resistance of flax can
lead to more and better yield of linseed. For research in this direc-
tion could be likewise used perennial flax varieties that yield for
many years and can cope well with winter survival.
Flax shives contain a heterogeneous mixture of compounds
known to have antimicrobial activity. Recently, an engineered flax
plant has been used as a source of antimicrobial compounds. The
antibacterial activity of shives extract with a unique composition
of different phenylpropanoid compounds (vaniline, ferulic acid, p-
coumaric acid and their glycosides) was detected. Growth of several
bacterial strains of clinical relevance (Escherichia coli, Bacillus sub-
tilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) was strongly
inhibited when treated with this extract (Czemplik et al., 2011). Pre-
liminary data suggest that the mechanism of the bactericidal effect
is based on bacteria gyrase inhibition and bacteria genome disinte-
gration by phenylpropanoid compounds. This finding indicates that
crop plants might be promising sources of diverse compounds with
antimicrobial activity against quickly mutating bacteria resistant
to available antibiotics. The worldwide increase in multidrug resis-
tance of pathogenic bacteria has led to an urgent need to identify an
alternative strategy to counter bacterial infection. The preparation
based on flax shive extract will be a good alternative to conventional
treatment.
The rest material after extraction of antimicrobial compounds
is still valuable material for biomedical application – can be used
as a natural drug carrier as a substance which are added to phar-
maceuticals to improve it delivery and effectiveness. After alkali
hydrolysis, performed to rely of well bounded compounds, the
shives cellulose, the basic structural component of flax shives and
fiber, with free functional groups/bounds will be obtained. Such
active groups can bond pharmaceuticals. After process of 20 h of
ball-milling treatment the decreased particle size will be obtained.
This method results in structural changes in biopolymers (cellu-
lose, hemicellulose, pectin, and lignin) and increasing of functional
group content (Dyminska et al., 2012). The pilot study confirms this
hypothesis that fibers and shives, initially subjected alkali hydrol-
ysis and after that micronized effectively binds hydrophobic and
hydrophilic compounds (data unpublished).
4. Future outlook
The research data presented in this review suggest that the
flax raw material provides a variety of industrial and health ben-
efits, as summarized in Fig. 4. Previously used only for textile
and oil production, flax raw material is now being considered for
biodegradable composite, implants, wound dressing, alternative
antibiotics, anti-atherosclerotic, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory
preparation production and marketing. However, to accomplish
this beneficial goal it is necessary to further develop the technol-
ogy that might help to increase flax productivity and enhance the
quality of raw materials.
Genetically modified organism (GMO) technology is the most
exploited method for generation of transgenic organisms for both
scientific and commercial purposes in modern plant biotechnology.
However, according to Eurobarometer over 60% (61–90% depend-
ing on the country) of members of society do not accept GMO,
which locks the door for the commercialization of GM plants and
products. Thus, the challenge for new biotechnology is to develop
a method of modulation rather than modification of the genome,
which would still produce effects similar to those of agrotransfor-
mation. The method for the non-invasive modulation of the genome
involves the induction of changes in methylation–demethylation
of the endogenous gene by treatment of plants with short length
 M. Zuk et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177
Fig. 4. Scheme of multipurpose application of linseed raw products.
oligodeoxynucleotides (oligos), which are sense/antisense to the
coding region. Since the method does not include genomic DNA
breaking, no heterologous DNA incorporation into the genome
takes place in this case, and the process does not need to be
mediated by Agrobacterium infection. It can therefore be regarded
as natural due to not involving genetic modification. Success-
ful application of epigenetic tools for plant improvement has
recently been reported. For example, antisense oligos were used
to reduce the expression of the nucleus-encoded phytoene desat-
urase in tobacco, the chlorophyll a/b-binding genes in wheat, the
chloroplast-encoded psbA gene in A. thaliana L. (Dinc et al., 2011),
the SUSIBA2 transcription factor, in sugar-treated barley (Sun et al.,
2005) and the GNOM LIKE 1 gene in tobacco (Liao et al., 2013).
An experiment with Taraxacum officinale F.H. Weeg showed that
74–92% of the variation in the level of methylation induced by jas-
monic acid and salicylic acid was preserved in the next generation
(Verhoeven et al., 2010). In the most advanced study, the gene cod-
ing for ␤-glucanase was up-regulated by treatment of flax plants
with oligos, and this feature accompanied by gene demethylation
was stably inherited up to the third plant generation (Wojtasik
et al., 2014). In the last three years pilot experiments, using oligos,
on linseed have also been performed – the modulation of chal-
cone synthase and lycopene ␤-cyclase genes’ activity was achieved.
The induced changes were stable for at least two generations (data
unpublished). Thus, the new method based on epigenetic modula-
tion of the genome appears to be a future tool for investigation of
gene function and improvement of crop plants as well.
The other scientific and perhaps industrial challenge with flax
as a subject is the synchronization of fiber and seed maturation.
It is well established that stem maturation and seed maturation
are independent processes for both the fibrous and linseed plant
varieties. Fibrous flax is harvested when stems are almost entirely
defoliated and the development of the secondary phloem fiber
cells is complete. At this time flax combines good fiber yield and
quality. However, harvesting the plant at this stage means risking
loss of sowing seed quality. On the other hand, later harvesting
175
causes increasing lignification and results in poor fiber quality.
Thus, more synchronized maturation of stem fibers and seeds will
reduce harvest risks. A breeding program aiming to synchronize
these maturation processes in flax in order to reduce harvest risks
during the production of both high quality fiber and flax sowing
seed was initiated (in FLAX: breeding and utilisation: Proceed-
ings of the EEC Flax workshop, Brussels, Belgium 1988). Even after
almost three decades no report is available on the progress of the
program. However, a few reports concerning the search for clues
on the early domestication history of flax have appeared lately. The
recent finding that the cultivated flax with spontaneously opening
capsules (dehiscent flax) displays close relatedness to its wild pro-
genitor (pale flax) and winter flax (required vernalization), which
is closely related to linseed or the fibrous type and distantly related
to its progenitor, suggests that flax’s early domestication history
might involve multiple events of domestication for oil, fiber, cap-
sular indehiscence and winter hardiness (Fu et al., 2012). Based on
the fact that capsular dehiscence and winter hardiness are major
characteristics of pale flax and that cultivated flax originating from
the warm Middle East was spread to cold world regions including
Europe, it was hypothesized that winter hardiness was among the
early domesticated traits (Fu et al., 2012).
Nowadays, the growing interest in flax attracts more attention
to linseed straw and fiber as by-products of its cultivation in North
America. The associations between stalk fiber content and quan-
titative (plant height, number of days from emergence to end of
flowering, petal width, seed weight, seed oil content and proportion
of linolenic acid to total fatty acids) or qualitative (stalk branching,
petal color, petal overlapping, petal margin folding and seed color)
plant characteristics were investigated (Diederichsen and Ulrich,
2009). The results showed that the wide variation in fiber content
of flax germplasm will be a highly useful tool for determination of
germplasm relevant for breeding dual purpose flax. For the same
reason, that is to make one flax cultivar of a dual purpose crop,
genomic regions controlling both stalk fiber and seed quality traits
were investigated (Soto-Cerda et al., 2013). The conclusion was that
176 M. Zuk et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177
core collection of flax is suitable for advanced studies targeting
multiple agronomic and quality traits to obtain the goal. Candi-
date regions were indicated as being affected by divergent selection
in flax, which after further investigation gives the opportunity to
detect loci influencing complex traits.
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by grants 2013/11/B/NZ1/007,
2012/06/A/NZ1/0006, 2013/11/B/NZ9/00150, NR12017110 from
the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
References
Akin, D.E., 2003. Flax fiber. In: Kirk–Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology.
John Wiley&Sons.
Allison, G.G., Robbins, M.P., Carli, J., Clifton-Brown, J., Donnison, I, 2010. Designing
biomass crops with improved calorific content and attributes for burning: a UK
perspective. In: Plant Biotechnology for Sustainable Production of Energy and
Co-products. Springer, Berlin, pp. 25–56.
Amalesh, S., Gouranga, D., Sanjo Kumar, D., 2011. Roles of flavonoids in plants. Int.
J. Pharm. Sci. Technol. 6, 12–35.
Anthony, W.S., 2002. Separation of Fiber from Seed Flax Straw. Appl. Eng. Agric. 18
(2), 227–233.
Bisson, J.F., Hidalgo, S., Simons, R., Verbruggen, M., 2014. Preventive effects of
lignan extract from flax hulls on experimentally induced benign prostate
hyperplasia. J. Med. Food 17, 650–656.
Cha, T.S., Chen, C.F., Yee, W., Aziz, A., Loh, S.H., 2011. Cinnamic acid, coumarin and
vanillin: alternative phenolic compounds for efficient
Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of the unicellular green alga,
Nannochloropsis sp. J. Microbiol. Methods 84, 430–434.
Chen, F., Dixon, R.A., 2007. Lignin modification improves fermentable sugar yields
for biofuel production. Nat. Biotechnol. 25, 759–761.
Cierpucha, W., Kozlowski, R., Mankowski, J., Wasko, J., Mankowski, T., 2004.
Applicability of flax and hemp as raw materials for production of cotton-like
fibres and blended yarns in Poland. Fibres Textiles East. Eur. 12 (3), 13–18.
Cloutier, S., RagupathyR. Niu, Z., Duguid, S., 2011. SSR-based linkage map of flax
(Linum usitatissimum L.) and mapping of QTLs underlying fatty acid
composition traits. Mol. Breed. 28, 437–451.
Czemplik, M., Zuk, M., Kulma, A., Kuc, S., Szopa, J., 2011. GM flax as a source of
effective antimicrobial compounds. In: Méndez-Vilas, A. (Ed.), Microbioloby
Book Series: Science against Microbial Pathogens: Communicating Current
Research and Technological Advances. Formatex Research Center, pp.
1216–1224.
Diederichsen, A., Ulrich, A., 2009. Variability in stem fibre content and its
association with other characteristics in 1177 flax (linum usitatissimum L.)
genebank accessions. Ind. Crop Prod. 30, 33–39.
Dinc, E., Tóth, S.Z., Schansker, G., Ayaydin, F., Kovacs, L., Dudits, D., Garab, G.,
Bottka, S., 2011. Synthetic antisense oligodeoxynucleotides to transiently
suppress different nucleus- and chloroplast-encoded proteins of higher plant
chloroplasts1. Plant Physiol. 157, 1628–1641.
Ding, S.-Y., Liu, Y.-S., Zeng, Y., Himmel, M.E., Baker, J.O., Bayer, E.A., 2012. How do
esplant cell wall nanoscale architecture correlate with enzymatic digestibility.
Science 338, 1055–1060.
Duguid, S.D., 2009. Flax. Springer, New York.
European Technology Platform, 2007. Plants for the Future, ed.
European Commission, Regulation (EU) No. 1307/2013 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing rules for direct payments
to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common
agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 637/2008 and
Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/
en/TXT/?uri=CELEX.32013R1307
Flower, G., Fritz, H., Balneaves, L.G., Verma, S., Skidmore, B., Fernandes, R.,
Kennedy, D., Cooley, K., Wong, R., Sagar, S., Fergusson, D., Seely, D., 2013. Flax
and breast cancer: a systematic review. Integr. Cancer Ther. 13,
181–192.
Fofana, B., Cloutier, S., DuguidS. Ching, J., Rampitsch, C., 2006. Gene expression of
stearoyl-ACP desaturase and delta12 fatty acid desaturase 2 is modulated
during seed development of flax (Linum usitatissimum). Lipids 41, 705–720.
Fu, Y.B., Diederichsen, A., Allaby, R.G., 2012. Locus-specific view of flax
domestication history. Ecol. Evol. 2, 622–635.
Goyal, A., Sharma, V., Upadhyay, N., Gill, S., Sihag, M., 2014. Flax and flaxseed oil:
an ancient medicine & modern functional food. J. Food Sci. Technol. 51,
1633–1653.
Gredes, T., Dominiak, M., Gedrange, T., Kunert-Keil, C., Wróbel-Kwiatkowska, M.,
Szopa, J., 2010. The influence of biocomposites containing genetically modified
flax fibers on gene expression in rat skeletal muscle. Biomed. Technol. 55,
323–329.
Halpin, C., Thain, S.C., Tilston, E.L., Guiney, E., Lapierre, C., Hopkins, D.W., 2007.
Ecological impacts of trees with modified lignin. Tree Genet. Genomes 3,
101–110.
Hashempur, M.H., Homayouni, K., Ashraf, A., Salehi, A., Taghizadeh, M., Heydari, M.,
2014. Effect of Linum usitatissimum L. (linseed) oil on mild and moderate carpal
tunnel syndrome: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical
trial. Daru 22, 43.
Heber, D., 2007. Plant Foods and Phytochemicals in Human Health. CRC Press.
Heller, K., Sheng, Q.C., Guan, F., Alexopoulou, E., Hua, L.S., Wu, G.W., Jankauskien˙ e,
Z., Fu, W.Y., 2015. A comparative study between Europe and China in crop
managementof two types of flax: linseed and fibre flax. Ind. Crops Prod., in
press.
Hodgson, E.M., Fahmi, R., Yates, N., Barraclough, T., Shield, I., Allison, G., 2010.
Miscanthus as a feedstock for fast-pyrolysis: does agronomic treatment affect
quality. Bioresour. Technol. 101, 6185–6191.
Karcher, E.L., Hill, T., Bateman, H.G., Schlotterbeck, R.L., Vito, N., Sordillo, L.M.,
Vandehaar, M.J., 2014. Comparison of supplementation of n-3 fatty acids from
fish and flax oil on cytokine gene expression and growth of milk-fed Holstein
calves. J. Dairy Sci. 97, 2329–2337.
Kumar, D., Ali, J., Baboota, S., 2014. Omega 3 fatty acid-enriched nanoemulsion of
thiocolchicoside for transdermal delivery: formulation, characterization and
absorption studi. Drug Deliv. 3, 1–10.
Li, X., Weng, J.-K., Chapple, C., 2008. Improvement of biomass through lignin
modification. Plant J. 54, 569–581.
Li, X., Yuan, D., Zhang, J., Mail, Z.L., Zhang, X., 2013. Genetic mapping and
characteristics of genes specifically or preferentially expressed during fiber
development in cotton. PLoS ONE, 8.
Liao, F., WangL. Yang, L.-B., Zhang, L., Peng, X., 2013. Antisense
oligodeoxynucleotide inhibition as an alternative and convenient method for
gene function analysis in pollen tubes. PLoS ONE, 8.
Lorenc-Kukuła, K., Zuk, M., Kulma, A., Czemplik, M., Kostyn, K., Skala, J., Starzycki,
M., Szopa, J., 2009. Enginiering flax with the GT Family I Solanum
sogerandinum gycosyltransferase SsGT1confers increased resistance to
Fusarium infection. J. Agric. Food Chem. 57, 6698–6705.
Mansfield, S.D., Kang, K.Y., Chapple, C., 2012. Designed for deconstruction- poplar
trees altered in cell wall lignification improve the efficacy of bioethanol
production. New Phytol., 12.
Mira, L., Fernandez, M., Santos, M., Rocha, R., Florêncio, M., Jennings, K., 2002.
Interactions of flavonoids with iron and copper ions: a mechanism for their
antioxidant activity. Free Radic. Res. 36, 1199–1208.
Porter, K.S., Axtell, J.D., Lechtenberg, V.L., Colenbrander, V.F., 1978. Phenotype:
fiber composition and in vitro dry matter disappearance of chemically induced
brown midrib (bmr) mutants of sorghum. Crop Sci. 18, 205–208.
Preisner, M., Wojtasik, W., Kulma, A., Żuk, M., Szopa, J., 2014. Flax Fiber. John Wiley
and Sons.
Przybylski, R., 2005. Flax oil and high linolenic oils. In: Bailey’s Industrial Oil and
Fat Products. John Wiley & Sons.
Qualley, A.V., Widhalm, J.R., Adebesin, F., Kish, C.M., Dudareva, N., 2012.
Completion of the core ␤-oxidative pathway of benzoic acid biosynthesis in
plants. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 109, 16383–16388.
Richardson, G.F., McNiven, M., Petit, H.V., Duynisveld, J.L., 2013. The effects of
dietary omega fatty acids on pregnancy rate, plasma prostaglandin metabolite
levels, serum progesterone levels, and milk fatty-acid profile in beef cows. Can.
J. Vet. Res. 77, 314–318.
Rodriguez-Leyva, D., Weighell, W., Edel, A.L., LaVallee, R., Dibrov, E., Pinneker, R.,
Maddaford, T.G., Ramjiawan, B., Aliani, M., Guzman, R., Pierce, G.N., 2013.
Potent antihypertensive action of dietary flaxseed in hypertensive patients.
Hypertension 62, 1081–1089.
Sattler, S., Funnell-Harris, D., 2013. Modifying lignin to improve bioenergy
feedstocks: strengthening the barier against pathogens? Front. Plant Sci. 4, 70.
Scholljegerdes, E.J., Lekatz, L., Vonnahme, K.A., 2014. Effects of short-term oilseed
supplementation on plasma fatty acid composition, progesterone and
prostaglandin F metabolite in lactating beef cows. Animal 8,
777–785.
Sedelnik, N., Zareba, S., Szporek, J., 2006. Preparation of Enzymatically Modified
Flax Fiber for Producing of Rotor-Spun Yarn for Apparel. Fibres Textiles East.
Eur. 14 (1), 22–26.
Singh, K.K., Mridula, D., Barnwal, P., Rehal, J., 2013. Selected engineering and
biochemical properties of 11 flaxseed varieties. Food Bioprocess Technol. 6,
598–605.
Singh, K.K., Mridula, D., Rehal, J., Barnwal, P., 2011. Flaxseed: a potential source of
food, feed and fiber. Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr., 51.
Skórkowska-Telichowska, K., Zuk, M., Kulma, A., Bugajska-Prusak, A., Ratajczak, K.,
˛
Gasiorowski, K., Kostyn, K., Szopa, J., 2010. New dressing materials derived
from transgenic flax products to treat long-standing venous ulcers—a pilot
study. Wound Repair Regen. 18, 168–179.
Smirnoff, N., 2010. Tocochromanols: rancid lipids, seed longevity, and beyond.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 107, 17857–17858.
Sobieralski, K., Siwulski, M., Sas-Golak, I., Mankowski, J., Kotlinska, T., 2011.
Mycelium growth and yield of wild strains of Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq.:Fr.)
Quel. cultivatedon waste materials from the textile industry. Folia Hort. 23 (1),
67–71.
Soto-Cerda, B.J., Diederichsen, A., Ragupathy, R., Cloutier, S., 2013. Genetic
characterization of a core collection of flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) suitable for
association mapping studies and evidence of divergent selection between fiber
and linseed types. BMC Plant Biol. 13, 78.
Soto-Cerda, B.J., DuguidS. Booker, H., Rowland, G., Diederichsen, A., Cloutier, S.,
2014. Association mapping of seed quality traits using the Canadian flax
(Linum usitatissimum L.) core collection. Theor. Appl. Genet. 127, 881–896.
 M. Zuk et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 75 (2015) 165–177
Styrczewska, M., Kulma, A., Ratajczak, K., Amarowicz, R., Szopa, J., 2012.
Cannabinoid-like anti-inflammatory compounds from flax fiber. CMBL 17 (3),
479–499.
Sugasini, D., Lokesh, B., 2014. Rats given linseed oil in microemulsion forms
enriches the brain synaptic membrane with docosahexaenoic acid and
enhances the neurotransmitter levels in the brain. Nutr. Neurosci. 18 (2),
87–96.
Sun, C., Hoeglund, A.S., Olsson, H., Mangelsen, E., Jansson, C., 2005. Antisense
oligodeoxynucleotide inhibition as a potent strategy in plant biology:
identification of SUSIBA2 as a transcriptional activator in plant sugar
signalling. Plant J. 44, 128–138.
Thambugala, D., Duguid, S., Loewen, E., Rowland, G., Booker, H., You, F.M., Cloutier,
S., 2013. Genetic variation of six desaturase genes in flax and their impact on
fatty acid composition. Theor. Appl. Genet. 126, 2627–2641.
USDA program, 2015 http://www.fsa.usda.gov/
Van Sumere, C.F., 1992. The Biology and Processing of Flax M. Northern Ireland
Publications, Belfast, pp. 157–198.
Verhoeven, K.J.F., Jansen, J., van Dijk, P.J., Biere, A., 2010. Stress-induced DNA
methylation changes and their heritability in asexual dandelions. New Phytol.
185, 1108–1118.
Vrinten, P., Hu, A., Munchinsky, M.A., Rowland, G., Qiu, X., 2005. Two FAD3
desaturase genes control the level of linolenic acid in flax seed. Plant Physiol.
139, 79–87.
Wang, Z., Hpbson, N., Galindo, L., Zhu, S., Shi, D., 2012. The genome of flax (Linum
usitatissimum) assembled de novo from short shotgun sequence reads. Plant J.
72, 461–473.
Waszkowiak, K., Rudzinska, M., 2014. Effect of flaxseed meals and extracts on lipid
stability in a stored meat product. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 91, 979–987.
Waszkowiak, K., Szymandera-Buszka, K., Heś, ˛ M., 2014. Effect of ethanolic flax
(Linum usitatissimum L.) extracts on lipid oxidation and changes in nutritive
value of frozen-stored meat products. Acta Sci. Pol. Technol. Aliment. 13,
135–144.
Wojtasik, W., Kulma, A., Boba, A., Szopa, J., 2014. Oligonucleotide tratment causes
flax beta -glucanase up-regulation via changes in gene-body methylation. BMC
Plant Biol. 14, 261.
177
Wrobel-Kwiatkowska, M., Szopa, J., Dyminska, L., Maczka, M., Hanuza, J., 2009.
Spectroscopic characterization of genetically modified flax fibres enhanced
with poly-3-hydroxybutyric acid. J. Mol. Struct. 920, 214–219.
Wróbel-Kwiatkowska, M., Starzycki, M., Żebrowski, J., Oszmiański, J., Szopa, J.,
2007. Lignin deficiency In transgenic flax resulted In plants with improved
mechanical properties. J. Biotechnol. 128, 919–934.
Wróbel-Kwiatkowska, M., Zuk, M., Szopa, J., Dymińska, L., Maczka, ˛ M., Hanuza, J.,
2009. Poly-3-hydroxy butyric acid interaction with the transgenic flax fibers:
FT-IR and raman spectra of the composite extracted from a GM flax.
Spectrochim. Acta Part A 73, 286–294.
Yee, K., Rodriguez Jr., M., Tschaplinski, T., Engle, N., Martin, M., Fu, C., 2012.
Evaluation of the bioconversion of genetically modified switch grass using
simultaneous saccharification andfermentation and a consolidated
bioprocessing approach. Biotechnol. Biofuel. 5, 81.
˛ T., Grzesiak, S., Kulig, B., Polacek, M., 2005. The estimation of productivity
Zajac,
and yield of linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) using the growth analysis. Acta
Physiol. Plant 27, 549–558.
Zhong, X., Gao, S., Wang, J.J., Dong, L., Huang, J., Zhang, L.L., Wang, T., 2014. Effects
of linseed oil and palm oil on growth performance: tibia fatty acid and
biomarkers of bone metabolism in broilers. Br. Poult. Sci. 22, 1–8.
Zuk, M., Kulma, A., Dymińska, L., Szołtysek, K., Prescha, A., Hanuza, J., Szopa, J.,
2011a. Flavonoid engineering of flax potentiate its biotechnological
application. BMC Biotechnol., 11.
Zuk, M., Dorodkiewicz. -Jach, A., Drulis-Kawa, Z., Arendt, M., Kulma Szopa, A.J.,
2014. Bactericidal activities of GM flax seedcake extracton pathogenic bacteria
clinical strains. BMC Biotechnol. 14, 70.
˛
Zuk, M., Dyminska, L., Kulma, A., Boba, A., Prescha, A., Szopa, J., Maczka, M., Zajac,
A., Szołtysek, K., Hanuza, J., 2011b. IR and Raman studies of oil and seedcake
extracts from natural and genetically modified flax seeds. Spectrochem. Acta
Part A 78, 1080–1089.
Zuk, M., Prescha, A., Stryczewska, M., Szopa, J., 2012. Engineering flax plants to
increase their antioxidant capacity and improve oil composition and stability.
J. Agric. Food Chem. 60, 5003–5012.