title: Production of wax esters in plant seed oils by oleosomal cotargeting of biosynthetic enzymes.
abstract: Wax esters are neutral lipids exhibiting desirable properties for lubrication. Natural sources have traditionally been whales. Additionally some plants produce wax esters in their seed oil. Currently there is no biological source available for long chain length monounsaturated wax esters that are most suited for industrial applications. This study aimed to identify enzymatic requirements enabling their production in oilseed plants. Wax esters are generated by the action of fatty acyl-CoA reductase (FAR), generating fatty alcohols and wax synthases (WS) that esterify fatty alcohols and acyl-CoAs to wax esters. Based on their substrate preference, a FAR and a WS from Mus musculus were selected for this study (MmFAR1 and MmWS). MmWS resides in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), whereas MmFAR1 associates with peroxisomes. The elimination of a targeting signal and the fusion to an oil body protein yielded variants of MmFAR1 and MmWS that were cotargeted and enabled wax ester production when coexpressed in yeast or Arabidopsis. In the fae1 fad2 double mutant, rich in oleate, the cotargeted variants of MmFAR1 and MmWS enabled formation of wax esters containing >65% oleyl-oleate. The data suggest that cotargeting of unusual biosynthetic enzymes can result in functional interplay of heterologous partners in transgenic plants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biochemistry, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Georg-August-University, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany; and.
authors.forename: Mareike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heilmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biochemistry, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Georg-August-University, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany; and.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iven
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biochemistry, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Georg-August-University, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany; and.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ahmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biochemistry, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Georg-August-University, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany; and.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hornung
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, S-23053 Alnarp, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sten
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stymne
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biochemistry, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Georg-August-University, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany; and. Electronic address: ifeussn@uni-goettingen.de.
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Feussner
mesh_terms: D000217:Acyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000445:Aldehyde Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D004952:Esters / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012639:Seeds / Q000378:metabolism; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D014885:Waxes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004952:Esters; D010938:Plant Oils; D014885:Waxes; D000445:Aldehyde Oxidoreductases; C493802:FAR1 protein, mouse; D000217:Acyltransferases; C493806:wax synthase, mouse