Roadmap Shows How Genetic Changes to Plants Affect Biofuel Production
A new study has outlined a roadmap for scientists showing how genetic changes can affect how much oil a plant can produce.
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Researchers at the University of Missouri have developed a detailed framework showing how targeted genetic changes influence oil production in plants.
The findings, published in the Journal of Proteome Research and derived from studies in the model plant Arabidopsis, could support future efforts to optimize oil yield in biofuel crops.
Oil production and metabolic trade-offs
Inside every plant, metabolic networks convert carbon dioxide, water, sunlight and nutrients into energy-rich molecules. Among these, plant oils are a key resource for biofuel production. Genetic engineering efforts have aimed to enhance oil yield by altering specific genes that regulate metabolism.
However, modifying one pathway can influence many others, given the interconnected nature of plant metabolism. Enzymes, which act on instructions from genes, are central to these processes. How these modifications ripple through the plant’s metabolic system has not been well understood.
“Because oil production utilizes central metabolic pathways, we know that engineering plants to produce more oil ultimately impacts other pathways — creating constraints on carbon supply,” explained Jay Thelen, professor of biochemistry in the University of Missouri's College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.
“By using the knowledge we gained in this large-scale biological study, we can identify these metabolic bottlenecks and release these constraints through targeted engineering in order to maximize desirable products, such as oil,” said Thelen.
In this latest study, the researchers investigated how these pathways respond to increased oil production. By mapping these changes at the systems level, they identified key limitations, providing a foundation for engineering crops with higher biofuel potential.
Unexpected increases in both oil and protein
One notable finding challenges a widely held assumption: that increasing oil content in seeds typically reduces protein levels. In other words, if you try to increase oil, protein goes down and vice versa.
The research team found that both oil and protein concentrations increased simultaneously in some genetically modified plants. This observation could point to a new strategy for enhancing the value of oilseed crops by raising multiple desirable traits together.
“The surprising co-increase in protein suggests that it might be possible to simultaneously enhance multiple valuable components within plants that are grown for both oil and protein traits, rather than being forced into a trade-off,” Thelen said. “This study of a gene knockout for a regulatory gene for fatty acid production could offer clues for the engineering of seeds with a higher overall content of desirable substances, offering greater value.”
Another key insight from the study was the detection of an energy-wasting “futile cycle” in which lipids were synthesized and then broken down shortly afterward. This inefficient feedback loop suggests that some engineered plants activate breakdown pathways even as they ramp up lipid synthesis.
“We noticed that the plants upregulated pathways for lipid mobilization, seemingly breaking down the lipids (fatty acids) they were trying to overproduce,” Thelen said. “In future research, we want to try to discover what caused this unusual metabolic response, and ultimately slow down fatty acid catabolism to minimize this wasteful cycle.”
Lipid mobilization
The process by which stored fats are broken down into usable molecules. In plants, this usually occurs when energy is needed for growth or reproduction.
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Toward more efficient cover crops
The long-term aim of the research is to apply these findings to species such as camelina and pennycress, which are fast-growing cover crops. These plants could be engineered to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide more efficiently and convert it into seed oil for renewable energy applications.
Cover crop
A plant grown not for harvest but to protect and enrich the soil between growing seasons. Cover crops help prevent erosion, suppress weeds, and improve soil fertility.
“This carbon dioxide can be put into various products, such as simple and complex sugars, waxes, organic acids and oils,” added Thelen. “The goal of genetic engineering is to move as much of that carbon from those less valuable products into creating seed oil, the principal agronomic product for oilseed cover crops.”
Reference: Kataya A, Nascimento JRS, Xu C, et al. Comparative omics reveals unanticipated metabolic rearrangements in a high-oil mutant of plastid acetyl-coa carboxylase. J Proteome Res. 2025;24(6):2675-2688. doi: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.4c00947
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