Characterization of Wild Trees of African Oil Palm (Elaeis guineenis Jacq.) with alterations in Provitamin A (Carotene) and Vitamin E (Tocochromanol) Composition (HealthyPalmOil)

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The African Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is the largest oil crop in the world. Crude palm oil (CPO) is produced in West Africa by smallholders and it is widely used locally for human nutrition. While CPO is rich in carotenes (provitamin A), the composition and oxidative stability are suboptimal for a use in nutrition and food production. The two African partners of the consortium have access to unique Oil Palm germplasm in their research institutions in Cameroon and Ghana. In a previous project (Leap-Agri, VITAPALM), the partners screened ~1200 Oil Palm accessions and identified specific trees with altered contents and composition of provitamin A (carotenes) and of the natural antioxidant vitamin E (tocochromanols). The present project aims at (i) studying antioxidant capacity and oxidative stability of the oils from the different accessions, and (ii) to characterize selected lines with unique provitamin A or vitamin E composition on a molecular level. We aim at identifying the genes responsible for the changed vitamin amounts after evaluation of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the sequences from wild and elite Oil Palms, and after expression of candidate genes in Escherichia coli or Arabidopsis mutant plants. The characterization of the vitamin contents, antioxidant capacity and oxidative stability, of the different Oil Palms will lay the foundations for the introgression of interesting vitamin traits into elite high-yielding hybrids currently used for commercial seed production. The long reaching goal of this project is to initiate breeding programs on Oil Palm producing CPO with higher oxidative stability and longer shelf live which can be distributed to distal markets in Africa to combat vitamin A deficiency.