Increasing the flow of carbon into seed oil.
The demand for vegetable oils for food, fuel (bio-diesel) and bio-product applications is increasing rapidly. In Canada alone, it is estimated that a 50 to 75% increase in canola oil production will be required to meet the demand for seed oil in the next 7-10years. Plant breeding and genetics have demonstrated that seed oil content is a quantitative trait based on a number of contributing factors including embryo genetic effects, cytoplasmic effects, maternal genetic effects, and genotype-environment interactions. Despite the involvement of numerous quantitative trait loci in determining seed oil content, genetic engineering to over-express/repress specific genes encoding enzymes and other proteins involved in the flow of carbon into seed oil has led to the development of transgenic lines with significant increases in seed oil content. Proteins encoded by these genes include enzymes catalyzing the production of building blocks for oil assembly, enzymes involved in oil assembly, enzymes regulating metabolic carbon partitioning between oil, carbohydrate and secondary metabolite fractions, and transcription factors which orchestrate metabolism at a more general level.
Weselake
Randall J
RJ
Agricultural Lipid Biotechnology Program; Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science; University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2P5. Electronic address: randall.weselake@ualberta.ca.
Taylor
David C
DC
Plant Biotechnology Institute, National Research Council, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 0W9.
Rahman
M Habibur
MH
Agricultural Lipid Biotechnology Program; Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science; University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2P5.
Shah
Saleh
S
Plant Biotechnology Unit, Alberta Research Council, Vegreville, Alberta, Canada T9C 1T4.
Laroche
André
A
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1J 4B1.
McVetty
Peter B E
PBE
Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2.
Harwood
John L
JL
Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, Wales, UK.
D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry*; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000096:biosynthesis
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D010938:Plant Oils; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014280:Triglycerides; D002244:Carbon