Biotechnological Applications of Plant Seed Oil Bodies

Abstract

Seed oil bodies are lipid storage organelles that comprise a triacylglycerol matrix surrounded by a monolayer of phospholipids embedded with proteins. The oil-body associated proteins include an abundant structural protein class, oleosin and at least two minor protein classes, caleosin and steroleosin. Artificial oil bodies could be reconstituted with the three essential constituents, namely, matrix oil, phospholipid, and protein, in native sesame oil bodies. Several biotechnological applications have been developed in our group, including encapsulation of bacteria in artificial sesame oil emulsions, a bacterial expression/purification system for the production of recombinant proteins using artificial oil bodies as a affinity matrix, a new technique of enzyme immobilization on the surface of artificial oil bodies, and a carrier for drug delivery using the smaller artificial oil bodies stabilized by caleosin.