Gene silencing for crops! Scientists have applied gene silencing to Jatropha plant in order to increase its oil content. atropha curcas has recently emerged as a candidate crop for biodiesel production. This is due to the high oil content in its seeds. Jatrophas are also known to have short gestation periods, very hardy and are able to grow on marginal land. However, improvement of its agronomic traits has only just started because of its late domestication. JcSDP1 is a specific lipase in Jatropha that starts the catabolism of triacylglycerol, the most abundant storage oil in plants. Using RNA interference, several JcSDP1-deficient Jatropha plants were generated. It was found that JcSDP1-deficient plants accumulated 13 to 30% higher total seed storage lipids compared to control plants. This increase could be due to the blocked TAG degradation in the transgenics. This new strategy of improving seed oil content of Jatropha also has the potential to be used in other oil crops. Read more at: biotechnologyforbiofuels/content/pdf/1754-6834-7-36.pdf
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 18:52:20 +0000
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