Award details

Production of Ricinoleic Acid in Plants as a renewable material for the polymer and lubricant industry

Reference	BB/F004354/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Antony Slabas
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr Josiah Simon
Institution	Durham University
Department	Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	797,505
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	04/09/2007
End date	03/09/2011
Duration	48 months

Abstract

The main aim of this proposal is to produce ricinoleic acid in plants at a high level allowing it to be used as renewable raw material for industry. This will involve us : [A]Elucidating metabolic assembly and chanelling/compartmentalisation of the ricinoleic acid/triacylglycerol pathway in plants [B] Exploring the possibilities of using ricinoleic acid as a wider feedstock for production of novel polymers and other applications. [C] Developing B.carinata as an industrial oil crop for UK. Specifically the research objectives are: 1. Construction of transformation constructs for Arabidopsis, B.juncea and B.carinata 2. Transformation of Arabidopsis, B.juncea and B.carinata 3. Analysis of transformed plants 4. Lipid analyses of transformants and developing castor 5. Over-expression of cDNAs for specific genes for production of antibodies 6. Production and evaluation of antibodies 7.Cloning of additional genes involved in TAG biosynthesisin Ricinus, which we have not yet isolated 8. Production of ER and isolation of sub-domains concerned with TAG biosynthesis

Summary

The main aim of this proposal is to produce ricinoleic acid in plants at a high level allowing it to be used as a renewable raw material for the manufacture of: [1] Nylon N-11 - which is a main component of hydraulic fluid pipes in engines. [2]Lubricants to replace mineral based oils. These have applications in the areas of gear/transmission and hydraulics. Additionally we wish to investigate: [1]The metabolic assembly and chanelling/compartmentalisation of the ricinoleic acid/triacylglycerol pathway in plants [2] Explore the possibilities of using ricinoleic acid as a wider feedstock for production of novel polymers and other applications. [3] Development of B.carinata as an industrial oil crop for UK.

Committee	Closed Committee - Plant & Microbial Sciences (PMS)
Research Topics	Bioenergy, Crop Science, Industrial Biotechnology, Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	LINK: Renewable Materials (RM) [2006-2010]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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