Increased caloric and nutritional content of plant biomass

• US 10,392,629 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2015
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Board of Trustees of Michigan State University (Michigan State University)
• Original Assignee: The Board of Trustees of Michigan State University (Michigan State University)
• Inventors: Benning, Christoph, Sanjaya, Miller, Rachel
• Primary Examiner(s): Ibrahim, Medina A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zhong, Wayne
• Application Number:
  US14/598,953
• Publication Number:
  US 20150203861A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,684 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: C10G 32/00 Refining of hydrocarbon oils by electric or magnetic means, by irradiation, or by using microorganisms
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 1/19 Esters ester radical containing compounds; ester ethers; carbonic acid esters C10L1/1802, C10L1/1805, C10L1/1808, C10L1/1811, C10L1/1814, C10L1/1817 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2200/0476 Biodiesel, i.e. defined lower alkyl esters of fatty acids first generation biodiesel
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2290/08 Drying or removing water
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2290/547 Filtration for separating fractions, components or impurities during preparation or upgrading of a fuel
• CPC Class Codes: C12N 15/8247 involving modified lipid metabolism, e.g. seed oil composition
• CPC Class Codes: C12N 15/8261 with agronomic (input) traits, e.g. crop yield
• CPC Class Codes: C12N 9/1029 transferring groups other than amino-acyl groups (2.3.1)
• CPC Class Codes: C12Y 203/0102 Diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase (2.3.1.20)
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/146 Genetically Modified [GMO] plants, e.g. transgenic plants

Abstract

As described herein, plants expressing algal Diacylglycerol Acyltransferase Type Two (DGTT) from heterologous nucleic acids can alter acyl carbon partitioning in plant vegetative tissues and increase acyl-CoA-dependent triacylglycerol synthesis, thereby increasing the lipid content of the plants'"'"' tissues.

Claims

1. A plant seed or plant comprising a nucleic acid construct comprising a nucleic acid encoding a diacylglycerol acyltransferase polypeptide with at least 95% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO:

3 that is operably linked to a heterologous promoter operable in leaves, wherein the leaves of a plant grown from the plant seed, or the leaves of the plant contain oil droplets than wild type plants.

2. The plant seed or plant of claim 1, wherein the plant seed or plant is reproductively competent.

3. The plant seed or plant of claim 1, wherein the plant has at least 11% lipid per dry weight of tissue.

4. The plant seed or plant of claim 1, wherein the plant seed is an oleaginous plant seed or wherein the plant an oleaginous plant.

5. The plant seed or plant of claim 1, wherein the plant seed or plant is selected from an oleaginous, Arabidopsis, corn, sugar beet, soybean, sugar cane, potato, grass, rice, beet, grape, Brassica, Brassica napus, algal, oilseed rape, sunflower, soybean, flax, olive, alfalfa, oat, wheat, poplar, aspen, and willow plant seed or plant.

15. The plant seed or plant of claim 1, wherein the plant has more starch in vegetative tissues than wild type plants.

16. The plant seed or plant of claim 1, wherein the plant has more very long fatty acids than wild type plants.

6. A method comprising:

(a) transfecting a plant tissue or plant cell with a nucleic acid construct comprising a nucleic acid encoding a diacylglycerol acyltransferase polypeptide with at least 95% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO;

3 that is operably linked to a heterologous promoter operable in plant tissues;

(b) growing the tissue or the cell into a whole plant comprising leaves that contain more oil droplets than wild type plants; and

(c) isolating lipid from vegetative tissues or leaves of the whole plant.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plant tissue or plant cell is an oleaginous plant tissue or plant cell, a corn tissue or cell, a sugar beet tissue or cell, a soybean tissue or cell, a sunflower tissue or cell, a sugar cane tissue or cell, a potato tissue or cell, a flax tissue or cell, a grass tissue or cell, a Miscanthus tissue or cell, a switchgrass tissue or cell, a rice tissue or cell, a poplar tissue or cell, an aspen tissue or cell, a willow tissue or cell, a beet species tissue or cell, a grape species tissue or cell, an Arabidopsis species tissue or cell, a Brassica species tissue or cell, a Brassica napus plant tissue or plant cell, an algae species tissue or cell, an oilseed rape species tissue or cell, a soybean species tissue or cell, a flax species tissue or cell, an olive species tissue or cell, an alfalfa species tissue or cell, an oat species tissue or cell, or a wheat species tissue or cell.

8. The method of claim 6, where.in the whole plant is a reproductively competent plant.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the whole has at least 1% lipid per dry weight of tissue.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising isolating lipid from seeds of the whole plant.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising manufacturing a biofuel from a lipid in the whole plant or its tissues.

12. A method comprising:

(a) growing a plant from a seed with a nucleic acid construct comprising a nucleic acid encoding a diacylglycerol acyltransferase polypeptide with at 95% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO;

3 that is operably linked to a heterologous promoter operable in plant tissues to thereby generate a plant comprising leaves that contain more oil droplets than wild type plants; and

(b) harvesting lipid or oil from vegetative tissues of the plant.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the plant has at least 11% lipid per dry weight of tissue.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising manufacturing a biofuel from the lipid or oil harvested.