Improving Camelina seed oil production by modulating mucilage synthesis

由于其对不利生长条件的抵抗力和其油的质量，亚麻荠正在成为一种替代油籽作物，用于营养或生物燃料生产。基本上是一种古老的作物，相对较少的选择已经进行，有巨大的潜力育种和改进。亚麻荠是十字花科的一员，十字花科包括许多重要的经济作物，其农艺特性使其成为其生产的良好补充。然而，由于可利用的遗传和基因组资源相对较少，目前对亚麻荠农艺潜力的开发受到限制。在拟南芥（Camelina的近亲）中，通过转录因子的突变减少了形成种子粘液的多糖的产生，从而实现了油含量的增加。在种子发育过程中，粘液多糖在种皮表皮细胞中积累，这些亲水性聚合物在吸胀过程中被释放出来。此外，粘液多糖作为乳化剂和隔离油，从种子中去除它们将提高可提取率。在CASOM项目中，我们的目标是通过减少粘液的产生来增加Camelina的石油产量。这将通过在拟南芥中鉴定的两种转录调节因子的基因同源物的位点特异性突变进行概念验证研究，这是粘液合成所必需的。利用一种新型的种子微压榨系统来验证其在油脂提取中的效果。最近由项目伙伴确定的其中一个转录因子的分子遗传学特征也将进行。与此同时，转录组学和全基因组关联研究将用于鉴定新的亚麻荠候选基因，这些候选基因可用于修改粘液生成和改善油提取。将获得不同发育阶段种皮表皮细胞的转录组数据，并将数据与其他植物组织的转录组进行筛选。对于GWAS，将从来自不同背景的大约200份亚麻荠的基因组重测序数据中鉴定序列多态性。这些数据也将有助于我们描述亚麻荠之间的遗传变异性。转录组和基因组序列数据将在一个用户友好的网络资源中免费提供给其他研究人员，从而有助于改善未来研究的基因组资源。CASOM项目涉及一个法国和一个德国合作伙伴的合作，他们在种子和多糖研究方面具有互补的专业知识和坚实的背景。CASOM的主要目的是：(1)验证通过转录调节因子减少拟南芥和亚麻荠的粘液生成可以增加油脂含量和可提取性；(2)确定调节亚麻荠粘液生成的新靶点。

Camelina is emerging as an alternative oilseed crop due to its resistance to adverse growth conditions and the quality of its oil for nutrition or biofuel production. Essentially an ancient crop, relatively little selection has been carried out and there is an enormous potential for breeding and improvement. Camelina sativa is a member of the Brassicaceae family, which includes a number of economically important crops, and its agronomic attributes make it an excellent complement to their production. Nevertheless, development of the agronomic potential of Camelina is currently limited as relatively few genetic and genomic resources are available. Increased oil contents have been achieved in Arabidopsis, a close relative of Camelina, by reducing the production of the polysaccharides that form seed mucilage through the mutation of a transcription factor. Mucilage polysaccharides are accumulated in the epidermal cells of the seed coat during seed development and these hydrophilic polymers are released during imbibition. Furthermore, mucilage polysaccharides act as emulsifiers and sequester oil, and their removal from seeds should improve extractability. In the CASOM project we aim to increase oil production in Camelina by reducing the production of mucilage. This will be carried out in proof of concept studies by site-specific mutation of gene homologs for two transcription regulators identified in Arabidopsis as required for mucilage synthesis. A novel seed micropress system will be exploited to validate their effect on oil extraction. The molecular genetic characterization of one of the transcription factors, recently identified by the project partners, will also be carried out. In parallel, transcriptomic and genome wide association studies will be used to identify novel Camelina gene candidates that can be used to modify mucilage production and improve oil extraction. Transcriptome data will be obtained for the seed coat epidermal cells at different developmental stages and data will be filtered against transcriptomes from other plant tissues. For GWAS, sequence polymorphisms will be identified from genome resequencing data for around 200 Camelina accessions from diverse backgrounds. This data will also contribute to our characterisation of the genetic variability between Camelina. The transcriptome and genome sequence data will be made freely available to other researchers in a user friendly web resource and will thus contribute to improving the genomic resources available for future studies.The CASOM project involves the collaboration of one French and one German partner with complementary expertise and a solid background in seed and polysaccharide research. The primary objectives of CASOM are (1) to validate that reducing mucilage production in Arabidopsis and Camelina through transcription regulators can increase oil contents and extractability and (2) to identify novel targets for the modulation of mucilage production in Camelina.