Turning sugar into oil: Making photosynthesis blind to feedback inhibition

Abstract

Since the advent of metabolic engineering 30 years ago it has been a goal to modify crops to accumulate alternative higher value products and/or to increase yield. Direct targeting of metabolic enzymes has been difficult because of strong endogenous regulatory mechanisms that can confound such changes, either impeding the metabolic alteration or producing a growth and yield penalty. Beechey-Gradwell et al. (2020) show that in Lolium perenne, an important temperate pasture and forage grass, introduction of two genes involved in lipid synthesis and storage results in significant accumulation of oil and increases photosynthesis and growth, elevating calorific value and overall yield.