title: Abiotic factors influence plant storage lipid accumulation and composition.
abstract: The demand for plant-derived oils has increased substantially over the last decade, and is sure to keep growing. While there has been a surge in research efforts to produce plants with improved oil content and quality, in most cases the enhancements have been small. To add further complexity to this situation, substantial differences in seed oil traits among years and field locations have indicated that plant lipid biosynthesis is also influenced to a large extent by multiple environmental factors such as temperature, drought, light availability and soil nutrients. On the molecular and biochemical levels, the expression and/or activities of fatty acid desaturases, as well as diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1, have been found to be affected by abiotic factors, suggesting that they play a role in the lipid content and compositional changes seen under abiotic stress conditions. Unfortunately, while only a very small number of strategies have been developed as of yet to minimize these environmental effects on the production of storage lipids, it is clear that this feat will be of the utmost importance for developing superior oil crops with the capability to perform in a consistent manner in field conditions in the future.
authors.affiliation: Alberta Innovates Phytola Centre, Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2P5, Canada.
authors.forename: Stacy D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.affiliation: National Research Council Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 0W9, Canada.
authors.forename: Jitao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.affiliation: Alberta Innovates Phytola Centre, Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2P5, Canada. Electronic address: randall.weselake@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Randall J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Weselake
mesh_terms: D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D008055:Lipids / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012639:Seeds / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids; D010940:Plant Proteins
keywords: Enhancing seed oil content; Environmental stress; Improving seed oil quality; Oleaginous crops; Seed oil; Triacylglycerol biosynthesis