title: Studies on the regulation of lipid biosynthesis in plants: application of control analysis to soybean.
abstract: Although there is much knowledge of the enzymology (and genes coding the proteins) of lipid biosynthesis in higher plants, relatively little attention has been paid to regulation. We have demonstrated the important role for cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase in the biosynthesis of the major extra-plastidic membrane lipid, phosphatidylcholine. We followed this work by applying control analysis to light-induced fatty acid synthesis. This was the first such application to lipid synthesis in any organism. The data showed that acetyl-CoA carboxylase was very important, exerting about half of the total control. We then applied metabolic control analysis to lipid accumulation in important oil crops - oilpalm, olive, and rapeseed. Recent data with soybean show that the block of fatty acid biosynthesis reactions exerts somewhat more control (63%) than lipid assembly although both are clearly very important. These results suggest that gene stacks, targeting both parts of the overall lipid synthesis pathway will be needed to increase significantly oil yields in soybean. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Membrane Structure and Function: Relevance in the Cell's Physiology, Pathology and Therapy.
authors.affiliation: School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK.
authors.forename: Irina A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Guschina
authors.affiliation: DuPont Agricultural Biotechnology, P.O. Box 80353, Wilmington, DE 19880, USA.
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Everard
authors.affiliation: DuPont Agricultural Biotechnology, P.O. Box 80353, Wilmington, DE 19880, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Kinney
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK.
authors.forename: Patti A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Quant
authors.affiliation: School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK. Electronic address: Harwood@Cardiff.ac.uk.
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Harwood
mesh_terms: D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008055:Lipids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D013025:Glycine max / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids
keywords: Fatty acid; Metabolic control analysis; Metabolic regulation; Phosphatidylcholine formation; Plant membrane lipid