Mechanism for the partitioning of glycerolipid biosynthetic pathways in leaves and seeds

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Both membrane and storage lipids are mainly composed of glycerolipids in many living organisms, which commonly contain two or three fatty acid moieties attached to a glycerol backbone. In case of higher plants, all of the fatty acids are synthesized in plastids, whereas the major sites for the membrane and storage lipid biosyntheses are spatially separated in a cell. Since each plant organ contain different ratio of the two types of the glycerolipids and the ratio itself is one of a major feature of each organ identity, it is of interest how plants control the partitioning of the two different biosynthetic pathways for the membrane and storage glycerolipids. In this project, we studied on the strict control system for the partitioning of two different pathways of membrane and storage glycerolipid biosyntheses in each plant organ. In the course of this study, we found several nutrient deficient conditions strongly enhanced TAG synthesis even in leaves, and clarified the importance of phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (PAH1/2) in the leaf TAG synthesis. Moreover, we identified novel mutants which lack suppression of chloroplast membrane biogenesis in roots.