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

非洲油棕榈(Elaeis guineensis Jacq.)是世界上最大的油料作物。毛棕榈油(CPO)在西非由小农户生产，在当地被广泛用于人类营养。虽然CPO含有丰富的胡萝卜素(维生素A原)，但其组成和氧化稳定性不适合用于营养和食品生产。该联盟的两个非洲伙伴可以在喀麦隆和加纳的研究机构获得独特的油棕榈树种质。在之前的一个项目(Leap-AGRI，VITAPALM)中，合作伙伴筛选了大约1200份油棕榈树种质，并确定了维生素A原(胡萝卜素)和天然抗氧化剂维生素E(生育色素)的含量和组成发生变化的特定树木。本项目的目的是(I)研究不同种质油脂的抗氧化能力和氧化稳定性，以及(Ii)从分子水平上鉴定具有独特的维生素A或维生素E原组成的品系。我们的目标是在对野生和精英油棕榈树的序列进行单核苷酸多态(SNPs)分析后，以及候选基因在大肠杆菌或拟南芥突变植物中的表达后，找出导致维生素含量变化的基因。对不同油棕榈树的维生素含量、抗氧化能力和氧化稳定性的表征，将为将有趣的维生素性状导入目前用于商业种子生产的优质高产杂交种奠定基础。该项目的长远目标是启动油棕榈生产CPO的育种计划，这些CPO具有更高的氧化稳定性和更长的货架寿命，可以分发到非洲的远端市场，以应对维生素A缺乏的问题。

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.