Understanding the dynamic nature of plant lipid anabolic and catabolic metabolism is key to sustainable oilseed engineering

TL;DR

This paper reviews how understanding plant lipid metabolism can help improve oilseed crops for producing valuable fatty acids in a sustainable way.

Contribution

The paper provides a conceptual framework for engineering oilseeds with enhanced unusual fatty acid content through better understanding of lipid metabolic networks.

Findings

Acyl flux in lipid metabolism is tightly controlled by enzyme selectivity and DAG compartmentalization.

Incompatibilities between UFA enzymes and host metabolism hinder engineering success.

Strategies like UFA-selective acyltransferases and TAG remodeling can improve UFA accumulation.

Abstract

Plant‐derived oils are essential sources of reduced carbon and various fatty acid (FA) structures for food, biofuels, and the oleochemical industry. Despite extensive efforts, engineering mainstream oilseed crops to produce high levels of industrially valuable unusual FAs (UFAs) remains challenging. This review synthesizes recent advances in the understanding of lipid metabolic networks, emphasizing how species‐specific regulation of FA synthesis, activation, and delivery influences triacylglycerol (TAG) assembly to govern the efficiency of UFA accumulation. Key insights reveal that acyl flux through anabolic and catabolic branches of lipid metabolism is tightly controlled by enzyme substrate selectivities, diacylglycerol (DAG) pool compartmentalization, and metabolic context, including lipid remodeling and degradation pathways. Engineering success is often constrained by incompatibilities between UFA biosynthetic enzymes and endogenous host metabolism, leading to flux imbalances, futile cycles, and undesired phenotypes. We highlight emerging strategies to overcome these barriers, such as the use of UFA‐selective acyltransferases, coordinated manipulation of DAG source pools, suppression of competing endogenous enzymes, and exploitation of TAG remodeling mechanisms. This integrated synthesis provides a conceptual framework for logic‐based engineering of oilseeds with enhanced UFA content by offering new avenues for sustainable biomanufacturing of valuable lipids.

Figures