Toward the metabolomics of Jatropha curcas

Abstract

Jatropha curcas is a bush with a long history of use in popular medicine, lamp oil and soap production. The more recently developed interest in biodiesel has boosted the scientific interest, because of the high yield of oil in its seeds. But the toxicity of these seeds has being hindering their large scale use for animal feeding. In the past years, several methods to handle the toxicity have been presented, in order to improve the exploitation of the crop. Understanding the metabolomics of J. curcas could improve its overall utilization.