Triacylglycerol biosynthesis in plants

加拿大的油菜籽产业在种子和油出口方面的价值估计为30亿美元，每年为国民经济提供138亿美元的相关活动。 在全球范围内，收入增加，人口增长以及对可再生液体燃料的迫切需求正在推动对种子油的前所未有的需求。我的研究计划的总体目标是了解如何控制种子油的形成，作为开发具有增加的种子油含量或具有食品和非食品应用所需特性的油的基础。在种子发育过程中，一系列油脂生成酶驱动种子油的形成。 这些酶的作用可以影响形成的油的量以及油的组成和性质。 拟议的研究计划侧重于驱动石油建设途径中第一个和最后一个反应的酶。 我们将了解途径中最后一种酶的结构如何影响酶的工作能力。此外，我们打算研究酶如何与形成油的植物细胞内的膜网络相互作用。所有这些信息将有助于设计用于卡诺拉生物技术的酶的“高性能”形式，以增加种子油含量和/或改变种子油质量。在对油脂生成途径中的第一种酶的研究中，我们将研究油脂形成细胞的“遗传蓝图”中的信息如何转化为功能酶，以及在种子发育过程中如何控制这种酶的数量。我对植物油形成的研究依赖于许多学科的方法，包括生物化学，分子生物学，育种，组织培养和分析化学。拟议的研究计划也将有助于在植物脂质研究的新兴领域培养高素质的人才。

Canada's canola industry is worth an estimated $ 3 billion in seed and oil exports, and $13.8 billion in associated activity to the national economy each year. Globally, rising incomes, population growth, and an urgent need for renewable liquid fuels is driving an unprecedented demand for seed oils. The overall goal of my research program is to understand how seed oil formation is controlled as a basis for developing canola with increased seed oil content or oil with desired properties for food and non-food applications. During seed development, a series of oil-building enzymes drive the formation of seed oil. The action of these enzymes can influence both the quantity of oil formed and the composition and properties of the oil. The proposed research program focuses on the enzymes driving the first and last of the reactions in the oil-building pathway. We will learn how the structure of the last enzyme in the pathway affects the ability of the enzyme to do its job. In addition, we intend to study how the enzyme interacts with the membrane network within the oil forming plant cell. All of this information will be useful in designing "high performance" forms of the enzyme for use in canola biotechnology to increase seed oil content and/or modify seed oil quality. In research with the first enzyme in the oil-building pathway, we will investigate how the information in the "genetic blueprint" of the oil-forming cell is converted to functioning enzyme and how the quantity of this enzyme is controlled during seed development. My research on plant oil formation relies on methods from numerous disciplines including biochemistry, molecular biology, breeding, tissue culture and analytical chemistry. The proposed research program will also contribute to the training of highly qualified personnel in the burgeoning area of plant lipid research.