Department of Biological Chemistry, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Herts AL5 2JQ, UK.
Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2010 Jun;13(3):330-7. doi: 10.1016/j.pbi.2010.01.008. Epub 2010 Feb 23.
Plant neutral lipids such as seed oil triacylglycerols play a key role in many aspects of human life, ranging from providing essential nutrition to acting as biolubricants. There is also growing interest in using plant oils as a replacement for petrochemicals, either for fuel or as a chemical feedstock. Considerable effort has been focused on modifying the fatty acid composition of seed oils and/or increasing the levels of storage triacylglycerol. Certainly, it is now possible to successfully modify the profile of plant oils via transgenic metabolic engineering to generate something approaching a 'designer oil'. This is specifically true for the accumulation of omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids that now stand at levels equivalent to those found in native marine organisms. However, it is equally clear that a holistic understanding of plant lipid metabolism is still lacking, mainly owing to the continually emerging complexity and interplay between pathways, recently exemplified by the identification of the ROD1 phosphatidylcholine:diacylglycerol cholinephosphotransferase involved in the channelling of unsaturated fatty acids into storage oil. The new approaches and outcomes described here will inform new paradigms and hasten the arrival of truly predictive biology in this vital field.
植物中性脂质，如种子油三酰基甘油，在人类生活的许多方面都起着关键作用，从提供必需的营养到充当生物润滑剂。人们对利用植物油脂替代石化产品的兴趣也在与日俱增，无论是作为燃料还是作为化工原料。人们已经投入了相当大的精力来改变种子油的脂肪酸组成和/或增加储存三酰基甘油的水平。当然，现在通过转基因代谢工程成功地改变了植物油脂的组成，从而产生了一种接近“设计油”的物质。这在积累ω-3 长链多不饱和脂肪酸方面尤其如此，其含量现已达到与天然海洋生物相当的水平。然而，同样清楚的是，人们对植物脂质代谢的整体理解仍然缺乏，这主要是由于途径之间不断出现的复杂性和相互作用，最近的一个例子是鉴定出 ROD1 磷脂酰胆碱：二酰基甘油胆碱磷酸转移酶，它参与了不饱和脂肪酸向储存油的输送。这里描述的新方法和新结果将为新的范例提供信息，并加速这一重要领域真正的预测生物学的到来。
