A new study by Jillian Fan, John Shanklin, and Changcheng Xu at the U.S.
Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, published in
The Plant Cell, revealed a method for increasing oil in plant leaves. Using
the new method, the scientists grew Arabidopsis with leaves that had
significantly higher oil content. The key was in the biochemical pathways
converting carbon into fatty acids, fatty acids to oil, and breakdown of
oil.

Previous attempts at increasing oil in leaves focused on blocking oil
breakdown by disabling the enzyme that transports fatty acids to the
peroxisome. However, it had negative effects on plant health. The team
disabled enzymes to determine their effect in regulating various biochemical
conversions. They found that disabling the enzyme SDP1 prevents oil from
breaking down into fatty acids, leading to higher oil content.

[www.bnl.gov] [www.bnl.gov]