Abstract
Triacylglycerols (TAGs) serve as the most important storage form of energy and carbon in eukaryotic cells and thus are one of the fundamental macronutrients for animal and human diet. They are also used as a major feedstock for diverse industrial and energetic sectors due to their high energy density. Oilseed crops represent the most valuable source of TAGs and major world sources of edible oils. Originally, oilseeds of various species were used as a model to decipher plant lipid synthesis pathways. Given the continuous progress in research on plant lipid metabolism, here we provide an overview and update on the current state of knowledge related mainly to storage lipids in oilseeds. Moreover, we present the latest evidences on the molecular networks governing metabolism not only of TAGs but also of other seed lipids, like wax esters, sterols and sphingolipids. Finally, this review also provides a framework for understanding the complex lipid web existing in oilseeds.
Highlights
As this review focuses on lipid metabolism and accumulation in oilseeds, in further sections we characterize the key mechanisms related to these compounds during seed development
Seed lipid metabolism is far the best characterized among all the plant tissues and organs, many questions remain to be elucidated
Sequencing of the oil crops genomes boosted the progress in our understanding of this phenomena and has set the stage for identifying and characterizing genes and their protein products involved in diverse aspects of lipid metabolism
Summary
The major storage reserves are seed storage proteins (SSPs), carbohydrates (starch), and/or storage lipids (Baud et al, 2008) The latter ones are the major storage reserves in oil crops and are represented mostly by TAGs (Voelker and Kinney, 2001). As this review focuses on lipid metabolism and accumulation in oilseeds, in further sections we characterize the key mechanisms related to these compounds during seed development. This includes both storage and non-storage lipids in diverse species, with a special emphasis on Arabidopsis thaliana being a leading model organism in plant biology and genetics and a reference model for oil crops
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