Designer oleosins boost oil accumulation in plant biomass

Abstract

Designer oleosins boost oil accumulation in plant biomassCytosolic triacylglycerols (TAGs) are the major neutral storage lipids in plants. These energy-rich molecules are especially abundant in seeds and oleaginous fruits, whereas in leaves, TAGs are typically low in abundance and represent < 1% of glycerolipids (Tjellstr€ om et al., 2015). Plant-derived TAGs (oil) are an important source of calories in human and animal diets, and they are suitable feedstocks to produce biodiesel (Vanhercke et al., 2019;Msanne et al., 2020;Sagun et al., 2023). Bioengineering of plant lipid metabolism has become an area of intensive research as high TAG lines can help to meet the increasing need for sustainable oils for our rapidly growing population taking into account climate change. In an article published in this issue of New Phytologist, Anaokar et al. (2024; pp. 271-283) report on a synthetic biology strategy that allows the bypassing of an endogenous regulatory mechanism in plants to facilitate the engineered accumulation of oil in vegetative tissues and seeds.