[3S01e] 09. GteX - Part 3

6:10 PM - 6:30 PM JST(9:10 AM - 9:30 AM UTC)

[3GET-01-KL] Towards the Enhancement of Camelina Oil Yield via Engineering of Lipid Biosynthesis through the Novel Metabolic Mechanisms

○Artik Elisa Angkawijaya¹, Van Cam Nguyen¹, Qiong Xiao¹, Na Ding¹, Yuki Nakamura^1,2 (1. RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (Japan), 2. Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo (Japan))

Keywords:

Camelina sativa,Oilseed crop improvement,Organelle contact sites,Metabolic Engineering,Sustainable Aviation Fuel

The transition toward Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) requires scalable and low-carbon feedstocks. Camelina sativa has emerged as one of the promising oilseed crops due to its short cultivation cycle, adaptability to marginal lands, low input requirements, and C18-rich oil profile compatible with the Hydrogenated Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) pathway. Importantly, its high gene transformation efficiency allows Camelina to be a feasible platform for oil metabolic engineering. Despite these advantages, increasing oil yield per hectare remains a critical objective for industrial viability.In plants, lipid synthesis is spatially partitioned between fatty acid production in chloroplasts and triacylglycerol (TAG) assembly in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). We previously identified a novel mechanism that boosts lipid synthesis operating at organelle contact sites between the ER and chloroplasts. This mechanism involves two phosphatidic acid phosphatase (PAP) enzymes, LPPα2 (ER-localized) and LPPε1 (outer chloroplast membrane-localized), which function at these inter-organelle interfaces. Overexpression of these enzymes in Arabidopsis thaliana increased seed triacylglycerol (TAG) content by approximately 20%. This increase is likely attributed to a more efficient channeling of lipid intermediates, thereby promoting TAG biosynthesis.Building on these and other recent findings in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, we are translating the mechanisms into the oleaginous crop Camelina sativa through metabolic engineering, with the goal of increasing oil yield and improving feedstock availability for SAF production. In parallel, we are expanding our efforts toward field validation and integrated biomass utilization, including valorization of Camelina straw as agricultural residue.