Camelina Biotechnology

Adhesive performance of camelina protein affected by extraction conditions – G. Qi, N. Li, D. Wang, and X.S. Sun – American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, 2016 Summary: Camelina protein (CP) adhesives were prepared from de-hulled camelina meal using alkaline solubilization (CP 8, CP 9, CP 10, CP 11, CP 12) and isolelectric precipitation. CP 12 had the highest ...

Summary: Camelina is an underutilized Brassicaceae oilseed plant with a considerable agronomic potential for biofuel and vegetable oil production in temperate regions. In contrast to most Brassicaceae, camelina is resistant to alternaria black spot and other diseases and pests. Sequencing of the camelina genome revealed an undifferentiated allohexaploid genome with a comparatively large number of genes and low percentage of ...

Summary: Our data obtained from physiological and functional analyses using plants overexpressing CsHMA3 will be useful to develop a multifunctional plant that can improve the productivity of a bioenergy crop and simultaneously be used to purify an area contaminated by various heavy metals. Link: (Open Access) http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/7/1/96

Summary: Protoplast electrofusion was used to create intertribal hybrids of Brassica napus and Camelina sativa. Seeds of hybrids had a modified fatty acid profile, indicating higher level of linolenic and eicosanoic acids than those of B. napus. Our results suggest that somatic hybridization offers opportunities for transferring entire genomes between B. napus and C. sativa in breeding for rapeseed improvement. ...

Summary: Transgenic Camelina plants overexpressing Arabidopsis MYB96 exhibited drought resistance by activating expression of Camelina wax biosynthetic genes and accumulating wax load. The results indicate that MYB96-mediated transcriptional regulation of wax biosynthetic genes is an approach applicable to generating drought resistant transgenic crops. Transgenic Camelina plants with enhanced drought tolerance could be cultivated on marginal land to produce renewable biofuels ...

Summary: Under controlled environmental conditions, overexpression of AtPAP2 in Camelina sativa resulted in longer hypocotyls, earlier flowering, faster growth rate, higher photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance, increased seed yield and seed size in comparison with the wild-type line and null-lines. Similar to transgenic Arabidopsis, activity of sucrose phosphate synthase in leaves of transgenic Camelina was also significantly up-regulated. Changes in ...

Summary: In this review we discuss how the improved TAG (triacylglycerol) synthesis model (including acyl editing and new enzymes such as PDCT) may be utilized to achieve the goal of effectively modifying plant oils for industrial uses. Based on the results of the last 20 years, creating a high mFA (modified fatty acids) accumulating plant will not be done by ...

Summary: Omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are of considerable interest based on clear evidence of dietary health benefits and the concurrent decline of global sources (fish oils). Generating alternative transgenic plant sources of omega-3 LC-PUFAs has previously proved problematic. Here we describe a set of heterologous genes capable of efficiently directing synthesis of these fatty acids in the seed oil ...

Summary: New and sustainable sources of long-chain omega-3 oils containing DHA (docosahexaenoic acid, 22:6ω3) are required to meet increasing demands. The lipid content of the oilseed of a novel transgenic, DHA-producing land plant, Camelina sativa, containing microalgal genes able to produce LC omega-3 oils, contained 36% lipid by weight with triacylglycerols (TAG). The DHA content was 6.8% of total fatty ...

Summary: To improve oil quality and other agronomic characters, we have developed an efficient and simple in planta method to generate transgenic camelina plants. We also demonstrated that transgenic camelina seeds produced novel hydroxy fatty acids by transforming a castor fatty acid hydroxylase. Our results provide a rapid means to genetically improve agronomic characters of camelina, including fatty acid profiles ...

Summary: It is desirable to increase the content of the monounsaturated oleic acid and decrease the content of the polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid, and α-linolenic acids in camelina oils to improve oxidative stability. Desaturation of oleic acid to polyunsaturated acids is mainly controlled by the gene FAD2. Three FAD2 genes were identified in Camelina, with very high sequence similarity ...

Summary: Study investigates the distribution of triacylglycerols and their phospholipid precursors within cotyledons and the hypocotyl of generic C. sativa and genetically modified lines with altered seed lipid composition. The results reveal previously unknown differences in acyl lipid distribution in Camelina embryos and suggest that this spatial heterogeneity may or may not be able to be changed effectively in transgenic ...

Summary: Microspore-derived embryos have been produced from Camelina. After 28 days embryos were observed and these were regenerated to plants and selfed seed was produced. The highest embryogenic frequency achieved was 38 microspore-derived embryos from 100,000 microspores. Link: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11240-011-9948-0 Erratum: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11240-011-0025-5

Summary: To evaluate the role of AGG3 towards seed and oil yield improvement, the gene was overexpressed in Camelina sativa. Analysis showed that constitutive overexpression of AGG3 resulted in faster vegetative as well as reproductive growth accompanied by an increase in photosynthetic efficiency. Overall, this study draws a strong link between the role of AGG3 in regulating two critical yield ...