Citrate metabolism in oilseeds

PAVLOVIC, TATIANA; COINTRY, VIRGINIA; DRINCOVICH, MARÍA FABIANA; ANDREO, CARLOS SANTIAGO; ALVAREZ, CLARISA; SAIGO, MARIANA; GERRARD WHEELER, MARIEL CLAUDIA

Congreso; SAIB LII; 2016

Different plant species use different pathways to generate precursors for the biosynthesis of reserves in their seeds. In turn, in each species would coexist more than one route to the input of carbon, energy and the reducing power required. In this work, we studied the contribution of citrate metabolism to the filling process in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana and in soybean, a legume of great economic importance. In the general framework, this project is aimed at finding biotechnological tools for improving oil yields from oilseed crops. Based on previous studies, organic acids would be actively metabolized during seed maturation. In this context, citrate synthase, enzyme responsible for mitochondrial synthesis of citrate, and ATP-citrate lyase, which catalyzes its cleavage to generate acetyl-CoA, the direct precursor of fatty acids, are good candidates for improvement in soybean. Thus, profiles of enzyme activity and gene expression of the different transcripts were comparatively evaluated at different stages of seed maturation in both species.