School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, Wales, UK.
Lipids. 2020 Sep;55(5):419-423. doi: 10.1002/lipd.12267. Epub 2020 Jul 23.
Vegetable oils are one of the main agricultural commodities. Demand has been increasing steadily over the last five decades and, with finite land available, it is vital that we increase productivity. My laboratory has focused on the regulation of plant lipid metabolism and, as part of this work, we identified diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) as important at regulating carbon flux during oil accumulation. This led to collaborations with Randy Weselake's research group when we quantified the importance of DGAT in oilseed rape by using flux control analysis. Later, with David Taylor, we showed that over-expression of DGAT boosted oil accumulation in field-grown crops by around 8%. These studies led to a multitude of experiments with different oil crops, such as oil palm and soybean, as well as many rewarding collaborations with Randy.
植物油是主要的农产品之一。在过去的五十年里，需求稳步增长，而可用土地是有限的，因此提高生产力至关重要。我的实验室专注于植物脂质代谢的调控，在这项工作的一部分中，我们确定了二酰基甘油酰基转移酶 (DGAT) 在调节油脂积累过程中的碳通量方面的重要性。这导致了与 Randy Weselake 的研究小组的合作，我们使用通量控制分析来量化 DGAT 在油菜籽中的重要性。后来，与 David Taylor 一起，我们发现 DGAT 的过表达可以将田间种植作物的油脂积累量提高约 8%。这些研究导致了与 Randy 进行了许多不同的油料作物（如油棕和大豆）的实验，并与 Randy 进行了许多富有成效的合作。
