Identification of acyltransferases controlling triacylglycerol biosynthesis in oilseeds using a genomics‐based approach

Increasing erucic acid content through combination of endogenous low polyunsaturated fatty acids alleles with Ld-LPAAT + Bn-fae1 transgenes in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

“…Genetic improvement of oilseeds has the objective of increasing oil yields with a uniform fatty acid composition for nutritional, pharmaceutical and industrial purposes (Roscoe 2005). Oil from traditional rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) diVers signiWcantly from most other vegetable oils by its high contents of erucic acid (22:1) and eicosenoic acid (20:1;Jönsson 1977;Becker et al 1999).…”

Reverse engineering of long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis into transgenic plants

“…-desaturation product STA) appear to be very efficiently channelled from phosphatidylcholine into triacylglycerols, presumptively via the action of a phospholipid:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (PDAT)-like activity (see accompanying dossier contribution by T. J. Roscoe [26]), removing them from the site of elongation (i.e. the acylCoA pool) and effectively precluding them from further modification [27].…”

“…Moreover, Abbadi et al [25] have not only identified potential bottlenecks in the biosynthetic route, but also highlighted a number of possible solutions. These include the co-expression of acyl-CoA:lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase (LPCAT), the enzyme responsible for mediating acyl-exchange between phosphatidylcholine and the acyl-CoA pool [26,27]. Such an activity would ideally be isolated from an organism carrying out endogenous VLC-PUFA synthesis and would be predicted to mediate the accumulation of D 6 -desaturated fatty acids in the acyl-CoA pool, facilitating their elongation to C 20 fatty acids [25][26][27].…”

“…These include the co-expression of acyl-CoA:lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase (LPCAT), the enzyme responsible for mediating acyl-exchange between phosphatidylcholine and the acyl-CoA pool [26,27]. Such an activity would ideally be isolated from an organism carrying out endogenous VLC-PUFA synthesis and would be predicted to mediate the accumulation of D 6 -desaturated fatty acids in the acyl-CoA pool, facilitating their elongation to C 20 fatty acids [25][26][27]. An alternative strategy might be to avoid the use of glycerolipid-dependent desaturases, instead using acyl-CoA desaturases such as those found in animals.…”

Life and death among plant lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferases

“…1 The sub-family of plant LPAATs constitute members of a large gene family of lysophospholipid acyltransferases involved in glycerolipid synthesis and membrane lipid remodelling, although the precise function of several members of this family remains obscure. 2 We are interested in the diversity and the structure and function-relationships of plant LPAATs and in their role in determining lipid acyl composition in developing seeds. In our recent manuscript, 3 we have described heterogeneity among seed expressed lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferases in Brassica napus.…”