Apr 22 2019
Researchers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore have created a sustainable way to show a new genetic alteration that can boost the yield of natural oil in seeds by up to 15% in laboratory settings.
Image credit: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
The new technique can be applied to crops such as soybean, canola, and sunflower, which are in a multi-billion dollar sector that continues to witness increasing global demand.
The research team guided by Assistant Professor Wei Ma from NTU’s School of Biological Sciences genetically altered a chief protein in plants which controls the amount of oil they make. This results in larger oil reserves in the seed that mainly serves as an energy source for germination.
The team’s patent-pending technique involves adjusting the main protein known as “Wrinkled1” or “WRI1”, which controls plants’ oil production. After alteration, the seeds get a wrinkled appearance, which is the reason for its scientific codename.
In the lab, these altered seeds have effectively exhibited seed oil increase that is able to yield up to 15% more natural oils. The research outcome was reported in the scientific journal Plant Signaling & Behavior.
Plant seed oil is an essential component in our daily diet and the agricultural industry is seeking ways to maximise plants’ yield while reducing environmental effects of crop cultivation, especially land use. Our research helps to increase the production of seed oil in a sustainable and cost-effective way, and it also opens up new doors in agriculture research.
Wei Ma, Assistant Professor, School of Biological Sciences, NTU.
The ability to boost oil yield in a sustainable manner is anticipated to result in higher economic gain. Earlier research has shown that a small 1.5% increase in oil yield (by dry weight) in soybean seeds likens to a jump of US$ 1.26 billion in the US market.
Discovery a boost for biofuel production
The increased yield in seed oil would also profit biofuel production, which is a form of clean fuel created from organic sources, such as vegetable oils.
Biofuel is being used in numerous applications, including powering machines in protected forests to decrease fossil fuel contamination and powering long-distant transportation by ships, automobiles, and airplanes.
Global demand for vegetable oil is increasing very rapidly, and it is estimated to double by 2030. In addition, research is also ramping up in the use of biofuels in various applications, which can provide a cleaner and more sustainable source of fuel than petroleum. Increasing oil production of key crops such as soybean, sunflower, and canola is thus essential for a more sustainable and greener future.
Wei Ma, Assistant Professor, School of Biological Sciences, NTU.
He is presently looking at industrial collaboration to commercialize and additionally develop the technology.
The NTU team is also exploring other ways to maximize plants’ oil reserves, for instance, using other plant parts such as stems, for oil production.
Sustainable way to increase oil yield
Earlier research efforts to enhance seed oil yield involved increasing the number of the WRI1 protein – called overexpression – but this was not successful in boosting the oil yield stably and steadily.
Asst Prof Ma used the Arabidopsis plant – a small flowering plant associated with cabbage and mustard. It contains all the features of crops such as canola, sunflower, and soybean, which serves as a suitable model plant for research.
He and the NTU research team formulated a patent-pending technique that stabilizes the key WRI1 protein which also enhances its ability to interact with other proteins. This improves its efficiency in making natural oils and the technique can be easily carried out on other crops. This also inspires a more sustainable way for industries to create natural oils rather than simply expanding the amount of land used for agriculture.
Dr. Bo Shen, a Senior Manager at DuPont Pioneer, a US-based international producer of hybrid seeds for agriculture who is not part of the NTU team’s study said, “Vegetable oil is an important renewable resource for biodiesel production and for dietary consumption by humans and livestock. The total production of vegetable oil worldwide reached about 185 million tons in 2017. Wrinkled1 (WRI1) is a ubiquitous regulator controlling oil biosynthesis in maize, soybean, canola, and palm. With increasing demand for vegetable oil, Asst Prof Wei Ma’s research on WRI1 can have global importance. A better understanding of how WRI1 regulates oil biosynthesis could inform how we breed plants that produce more oil.”
Providing another autonomous view, Dr. Eric Moellering, a senior scientist from Synthetic Genomics, a California company concentrating on synthetic biology, said, “Asst Prof Ma’s research on the plant transcriptional factor WRI1 has greatly advanced our understanding of how seed oil biosynthesis is regulated. While the WRI1 gene has been known for some time, Asst Prof Ma’s research has revealed key insight into the structural features of the WRI1 protein that are critical for its function, WRI1 interactions with other regulatory proteins, and the role of WRI1 in processes outside of seed oil regulation.
“These discoveries will undoubtedly contribute to the optimisation of seed oil yield in a variety of crops. As such, Asst Prof Ma’s research is helping to address some of the major 21st century challenges we face in feeding a growing global population and developing renewable transport energy.”