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TPM - Tailoring Plant Metabolism - Work package 1 (WP1) - High value lipids for health and industry

Reference	BBS/E/C/000I0420
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Johnathan Napier
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Peter Eastmond, Dr Richard Haslam, Dr Smita Kurup, Dr Olga Sayanova, Professor Frederica Theodoulou
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Rothamsted Research Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	7,785,336
Status	Current
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/2017
End date	31/03/2023
Duration	59 months

Abstract

Plant seeds are a reservoir of energy-dense molecules, including oils enriched in triacylglycerols (TAGs) that serve as the primary storage form of fatty acids. TAGs and their component fatty acids not only provide a major dietary calorie source but also serve as a renewable source of hydrocarbons for biofuels and industrial applications. By understanding and exploiting the diversity of lipid biosynthetic pathways in nature, seeds can be used as a canvas for the design and tailoring of biochemical pathways to generate diverse nutritional and industrial oils not found in oilseed crops. WP1 will examine the spatiotemporal regulation of lipid synthesis, using a combination of transcriptomics, lipidomics, mass spec imaging, tracer studies and metabolic modelling. The interactions between endogenous metabolism and introduced biochemical pathways will be analysed using Camelina lines engineered to produce non-native, very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. The potential to exploit novel regulatory mechanisms (including nuclear RNA export and targeted protein degradation) will also be explored. Finally, genome editing and conventional genetic improvement will be employed to improve the Camelina germplasm used for engineering (the "chassis"). Together, these approaches will provide a knowledge base to facilitate predictive metabolic engineering of a range of high-value lipids, including polyunsaturated fatty acids with proven health and nutritional benefits, wax esters for the lubricant and cosmetics markets and structured TAGs with desirable properties.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Crop Science, Industrial Biotechnology, Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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