Location: Plant Genetics Research
Project Number: 5070-21000-045-013-N
Project Type: Non-Funded Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Mar 1, 2023
End Date: Feb 28, 2026
Objective:
The objective of this proposal is to study the production of lipids in mutants to identify bottlenecks and regulation in lipid metabolism with the use of computational tools that generate models for a comprehrensive understanding of lipid metabolism.
Approach:
Modeling of the metabolic fluxes through lipid metabolism will be pursued using MATLAB with tools developed by ARS. The models are expected to inform on the biosynthesis of lipids in seeds that leads to higher triacylglycerol concentrations and increase seed value. Isotopic labeling with radioisotopes performed by collaborators will result in experimental data that will be modeled to produce metabolic flux maps for the lipid metabolic pathways. The studies describe partitioning of carbon and resources that are important for guiding engineering efforts for altered crop seed compositions that can serve as renewable fuels.
