Abstract
Camelina (Camelina sativa), which belongs to the Brassicaeae family, is an emerging oilseed crop with the potential to expand biodiesel production to arid land. During storage oil synthesis, diacylglycerol acyltrasferase1 (DGAT1) catalyzes the conversion of diacylglycerol (DAG) and free fatty acids to triacylglycerol (TAG). In this study, three DGAT1 genes (CsDGAT1A, CsDGAT1B, and CsDGAT1C) were isolated from developing C. sativa seeds. The deduced amino acid sequences of the three CsDGAT1 genes shared more than 84 % identity with those of DGAT1 genes from Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica napus. CsDGAT1A, B, and C transcripts were detected in various C. sativa organs, including developing seeds. Fluorescent protein-fused CsDGAT1A, B, and C were localized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of tobacco epidermal cells. When the CsDGAT1A, B, and C genes under the control of the BnNapin promoter were expressed in an Arabidopsis AS11 mutant, which is defective in DGAT1, the amounts and composition of total fatty acids in dry seeds were restored to those of the wild type, indicating the three CsDGAT1 genes to be functionally active. In transgenic C. sativa plants overexpressing CsDGAT1B, the levels of total seed oils were increased by ~24 % compared with non-transgenic lines. Transgenic C. sativa embryos with enhanced seed oil contents harbored larger embryonic cells and a greater number of cells compared with the wild type. Transgenic Camelina plants with increased oil contents can be used as renewable resources for the production of biodiesel and non-petroleum-based biomaterials.
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Acknowledgments
Confocal microscopy analysis was carried out at Korea Basic Science Institute, Gwangju, Republic of Korea. This work was supported by Grants from the Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology of the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (312033-05), Republic of Korea, and the Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program PJ0110522) of the Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.
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Kim, H., Park, J.H., Kim, D.J. et al. Functional analysis of diacylglycerol acyltransferase1 genes from Camelina sativa and effects of CsDGAT1B overexpression on seed mass and storage oil content in C. sativa . Plant Biotechnol Rep 10, 141–153 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-016-0394-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-016-0394-7