Project description:Very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) with chain lengths of 20 carbons and longer provide feedstocks for various applications; therefore, improvement of VLCFA contents in seeds has become an important goal for oilseed enhancement. VLCFA biosynthesis is controlled by a multi-enzyme protein complex referred to as fatty acid elongase, which is composed of β-ketoacyl-CoA synthase (KCS), β-ketoacyl-CoA reductase (KCR), β-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydratase (HCD) and enoyl reductase (ECR). KCS has been identified as the rate-limiting enzyme, but little is known about the involvement of other three enzymes in VLCFA production. Here, the combinatorial effects of fatty acid elongase enzymes on VLCFA production were assessed by evaluating the changes in nervonic acid content. A KCS gene from Lunaria annua (LaKCS) and the other three elongase genes from Arabidopsis thaliana were used for the assessment. Five seed-specific expressing constructs, including LaKCS alone, LaKCS with AtKCR, LaKCS with AtHCD, LaKCS with AtECR, and LaKCS with AtKCR and AtHCD, were transformed into Camelina sativa. The nervonic acid content in seed oil increased from null in wild type camelina to 6-12% in LaKCS-expressing lines. However, compared with that from the LaKCS-expressing lines, nervonic acid content in mature seeds from the co-expressing lines with one or two extra elongase genes did not show further increases. Nervonic acid content from LaKCS, AtKCR and AtHCD co-expressing line was significantly higher than that in LaKCS-expressing line during early seed development stage, while the ultimate nervonic acid content was not significantly altered. The results from this study thus provide useful information for future engineering of oilseed crops for higher VLCFA production.
Project description:The objective of this study was to determine species-associated differences in the seed proximate and fatty acid composition of three traditional oil crop species, hemp (Cannabis sativa), flax (Linum usitatissimum), and camelina (Camelina sativa), and the sowing season of camelina harvested under Lithuanian farming conditions for food use. Camelina seeds had the highest (p < 0.001) content of protein, oil, and sugar contents compared to both dehulled hemp and flax seeds. The amounts of protein and oil in camelina seeds were considerably increased by their summer cultivar, which showed higher (p < 0.001) contents of protein and oil than winter cultivars. However, the highest and lowest (p < 0.001) fiber content was found in flax seeds and camelina seeds, respectively. Camelina seeds showed considerably higher and lower (p < 0.001) proportions of total monounsaturated (MUFA) and polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids, respectively, compared with hemp and flax. The summer cultivar of camelina had higher (p < 0.001) proportions of saturated (SFA) and MUFA and lower proportions of PUFA compared with winter cultivars. Hemp seeds had the highest and lowest (p < 0.001) proportions of PUFA and MUFA, respectively. The n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio in hemp seeds is optimal (3.79), whereas the use of flax and camelina seeds with their n-6/n-3 ratios of 0.28 and 0.48, respectively, can significantly improve this ratio in the overall diet. The properties of oil crop seeds showed that whole seeds of hemp, flax, and camelina are potentially highly beneficial to human health.
Project description:The CRISPR/Cas9 nuclease system is a powerful and flexible tool for genome editing, and novel applications of this system are being developed rapidly. Here, we used CRISPR/Cas9 to target the FAD2 gene in Arabidopsis thaliana and in the closely related emerging oil seed plant, Camelina sativa, with the goal of improving seed oil composition. We successfully obtained Camelina seeds in which oleic acid content was increased from 16% to over 50% of the fatty acid composition. These increases were associated with significant decreases in the less desirable polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid (i.e. a decrease from ~16% to <4%) and linolenic acid (a decrease from ~35% to <10%). These changes result in oils that are superior on multiple levels: they are healthier, more oxidatively stable and better suited for production of certain commercial chemicals, including biofuels. As expected, A. thaliana T2 and T3 generation seeds exhibiting these types of altered fatty acid profiles were homozygous for disrupted FAD2 alleles. In the allohexaploid, Camelina, guide RNAs were designed that simultaneously targeted all three homoeologous FAD2 genes. This strategy that significantly enhanced oil composition in T3 and T4 generation Camelina seeds was associated with a combination of germ-line mutations and somatic cell mutations in FAD2 genes in each of the three Camelina subgenomes.
Project description:BackgroundCamelina sativa, an oilseed crop in the Brassicaceae family, has inspired renewed interest due to its potential for biofuels applications. Little is understood of the nature of the C. sativa genome, however. A study was undertaken to characterize two genes in the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway, fatty acid desaturase (FAD) 2 and fatty acid elongase (FAE) 1, which revealed unexpected complexity in the C. sativa genome.ResultsIn C. sativa, Southern analysis indicates the presence of three copies of both FAD2 and FAE1 as well as LFY, a known single copy gene in other species. All three copies of both CsFAD2 and CsFAE1 are expressed in developing seeds, and sequence alignments show that previously described conserved sites are present, suggesting that all three copies of both genes could be functional. The regions downstream of CsFAD2 and upstream of CsFAE1 demonstrate co-linearity with the Arabidopsis genome. In addition, three expressed haplotypes were observed for six predicted single-copy genes in 454 sequencing analysis and results from flow cytometry indicate that the DNA content of C. sativa is approximately three-fold that of diploid Camelina relatives. Phylogenetic analyses further support a history of duplication and indicate that C. sativa and C. microcarpa might share a parental genome.ConclusionsThere is compelling evidence for triplication of the C. sativa genome, including a larger chromosome number and three-fold larger measured genome size than other Camelina relatives, three isolated copies of FAD2, FAE1, and the KCS17-FAE1 intergenic region, and three expressed haplotypes observed for six predicted single-copy genes. Based on these results, we propose that C. sativa be considered an allohexaploid. The characterization of fatty acid synthesis pathway genes will allow for the future manipulation of oil composition of this emerging biofuel crop; however, targeted manipulations of oil composition and general development of C. sativa should consider and, when possible take advantage of, the implications of polyploidy.
Project description:There is considerable interest in the de novo production of omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), not least of all given the importance of these fatty acids in both aquaculture and human nutrition. Previously we have demonstrated the feasibility of using metabolic engineering in transgenic plants (Camelina sativa) to modify the seed oil composition to now include EPA and/or DHA. In this study, we further tailored the seed oil profile to reduce the omega-6 content, and evaluated the performance of such GM plants under field conditions (i.e. environmental releases), in terms of agronomic performance and also the lipidomic profile of seed oil. We used MALDI- mass spectrometry imaging to identify discrete tissue-types in the seed in which these non-native fatty acids preferentially accumulated. Collectively, these data provide new insights into the complexity of plant lipid metabolism and the challenges associated with predictive manipulation of these pathways. However, this study identified the likely dispensable nature of a Δ12-desturase activity in our omega-3 metabolic engineering rationales for Camelina.
Project description:Currently, the only sustainable alternatives for dietary fish oil (FO) in aquafeeds are vegetable oils (VO) that are devoid of omega-3 (n-3) long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA). Entirely new sources of n-3 LC-PUFA such as eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids through de novo production is a potential solution to fill the gap between supply and demand of these important nutrients. Camelina sativa,was metabolically engineered to produce a seed oil (ECO) with > 20 % EPA and its potential to substitute for FO in Atlantic salmon feeds was tested. Fish were fed one of three experimental diets containing FO, wild-type camelina oil (WCO) or ECO as the sole lipid sources for 7-weeks. Inclusion of ECO did not affect any of the performance parameters studied and enhanced apparent digestibility of individual n-6 and n-3 PUFA compared to dietary WCO. High levels of EPA were maintained in brain, liver and intestine (pyloric caeca), and levels of DPA and DHA were increased in liver and intestine of fish fed ECO compared to fish fed WCO likely due to increased LC-PUFA biosynthesis based on up-regulation of the genes. Fish fed WCO and ECO showed slight lipid accumulation within hepatocytes similar to that with WCO, although not significantly different to fish fed FO. The regulation of a small number of genes could be attributed to the specific effect of ECO (311 features) with metabolism being the most affected category. The EPA oil from transgenic Camelina (ECO) could be used as a substitute for FO, however it is a hybrid oil containing both FO (EPA) and VO (18:2n-6) fatty acid signatures that resulted in similarly mixed metabolic and physiological responses.
Project description:Currently, one alternative for dietary fish oil (FO) in aquafeeds is vegetable oils (VO) that are devoid of omega-3 (n-3) long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs). Entirely new sources of n-3 LC-PUFA such as eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids through de novo production are a potential solution to fill the gap between supply and demand of these important nutrients. Camelina sativa was metabolically engineered to produce a seed oil (ECO) with > 20% EPA and its potential to substitute for FO in Atlantic salmon feeds was tested. Fish were fed with one of the three experimental diets containing FO, wild-type camelina oil (WCO) or ECO as the sole lipid sources for 7 weeks. Inclusion of ECO did not affect any of the performance parameters studied and enhanced apparent digestibility of individual n-6 and n-3 PUFA compared to dietary WCO. High levels of EPA were maintained in brain, liver and intestine (pyloric caeca), and levels of DPA and DHA were increased in liver and intestine of fish fed ECO compared to fish fed WCO likely due to increased LC-PUFA biosynthesis based on up-regulation of the genes. Fish fed ECO showed slight lipid accumulation within hepatocytes similar to that with WCO, although not significantly different to fish fed FO. The regulation of a small number of genes could be attributed to the specific effect of ECO (311 features) with metabolism being the most affected category. The EPA oil from transgenic Camelina (ECO) could be used as a substitute for FO, however it is a hybrid oil containing both FO (EPA) and VO (18:2n-6) fatty acid signatures that resulted in similarly mixed metabolic and physiological responses.
Project description:Fatty acid desaturases add a second bond into a single bond of carbon atoms in fatty acid chains, resulting in an unsaturated bond between the two carbons. They are classified into soluble and membrane-bound desaturases, according to their structure, subcellular location, and function. The orthologous genes in Camelina sativa were identified and analyzed, and a total of 62 desaturase genes were identified. It was revealed that they had the common fatty acid desaturase domain, which has evolved separately, and the proteins of the same family also originated from the same ancestry. A mix of conserved, gained, or lost intron structure was obvious. Besides, conserved histidine motifs were found in each family, and transmembrane domains were exclusively revealed in the membrane-bound desaturases. The expression profile analysis of C. sativa desaturases revealed an increase in young leaves, seeds, and flowers. C. sativa ω3-fatty acid desaturases CsaFAD7 and CsaDAF8 were cloned and the subcellular localization analysis showed their location in the chloroplast. They were transferred into Arabidopsis thaliana to obtain transgenic lines. It was revealed that the ω3-fatty acid desaturase could increase the C18:3 level at the expense of C18:2, but decreases in oil content and seed weight, and wrinkled phenotypes were observed in transgenic CsaFAD7 lines, while no significant change was observed in transgenic CsaFAD8 lines in comparison to the wild-type. These findings gave insights into the characteristics of desaturase genes, which could provide an excellent basis for further investigation for C. sativa improvement, and overexpression of ω3-fatty acid desaturases in seeds could be useful in genetic engineering strategies, which are aimed at modifying the fatty acid composition of seed oil.
Project description:BackgroundWRKY transcription factors are a superfamily of regulators involved in diverse biological processes and stress responses in plants. However, there is limited knowledge about the WRKY family in camelina (Camelina sativa), an important Brassicaceae oil crop with strong tolerance for various stresses. Here, a genome-wide characterization of WRKY proteins is performed to examine their gene structures, phylogenetics, expression, conserved motif organizations, and functional annotation to identify candidate WRKYs that mediate stress resistance regulation in camelinas.ResultsA total of 242 CsWRKY proteins encoded by 224 gene loci distributed unevenly over the chromosomes were identified, and they were classified into three groups by phylogenetic analysis according to their WRKY domains and zinc finger motifs. The 15 CsWRKY gene loci generated 33 spliced variants. Orthologous WRKY gene pairs were identified, with 173 pairs in the C. sativa and Arabidopsis genomes as well as 282 pairs in the C. sativa and B. napus genomes, respectively. A total of 137 segmental duplication events were observed, but there was no tandem duplication in the camelina genome. Ten major conserved motifs were examined, with WRKYGQK being the most conserved, and several variants were present in many CsWRKYs. Expression analysis revealed that 50% more CsWRKY genes were expressed constitutively, and a set of them displayed tissue-specific expression. Notably, 11 CsWRKY genes exhibited significant expression changes in seedlings under cold, salt, and drought stresses, showing a preferentially inducible expression pattern in response to the stress.ConclusionsThe present article describes a detailed analysis of the CsWRKY gene family and its expression profiles in 12 tissues and under several stress conditions. Segmental duplication is the major force underlying the broad expansion of this gene family, and a strong purifying pressure occurred for CsWRKY proteins during their evolution. CsWRKY proteins play important roles in plant development, with differential functions in different tissues. Exceptionally, eleven CsWRKYs, particularly five alternative spliced isoforms, were found to be the possible key players in mediating plant responses to various stresses. Overall, our results provide a foundation for understanding the roles of CsWRKYs and the precise mechanism through which CsWRKYs regulate high stress resistance as well as the development of stress tolerance cultivars among Cruciferae crops.
Project description:Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz is an indispensable oilseed crop, and its seeds contain many unsaturated fatty acids. FAD (fatty acid desaturase) regulates the synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids. In this research, we performed CsFAD gene family analysis and identified 24 CsFAD genes in Camelina, which were unevenly distributed on 14 of the 19 total chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that CsFAD includes four subfamilies, supported by the conserved structures and motifs of CsFAD genes. In addition, we investigated the expression patterns of the FAD family in the different tissues of Camelina. We found that CsFAD family genes were all expressed in the stem, and CsFAD2-2 was highly expressed in the early stage of seed development. Moreover, during low temperature (4 °C) stress, we identified that the expression level of CsFAD2-2 significantly changed. By observing the transient expression of CsFAD2-2 in Arabidopsis protoplasts, we found that CsFAD2-2 was located on the nucleus. Through the detection and analysis of fatty acids, we prove that CsFAD2-2 is involved in the synthesis of linolenic acid (C18:3). In conclusion, we identified CsFAD2-2 through the phylogenetic analysis of the CsFAD gene family and further determined the fatty acid content to find that CsFAD2-2 is involved in fatty acid synthesis in Camelina.