Water Stress Improves Triacylglycerol Production in High-leaf Oil Tobacco Plants

Experts from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia investigated the effects of water stress on biomass and lipid accumulation in wild-type and high-leaf oil transgenic tobacco plants exposed to water stress. Their findings are published in Plant Physiology.

High-leaf oil plants have been developed through molecular methods to address the need for more plant oils. Under controlled conditions, the performance of these modified plants is promising, but there is a lack of information about how they perform under abiotic stress. Thus, CSIRO researchers tested the performance of high-leaf oil tobacco under water stress and compared it with the wild-type plants.

Results showed that the presence of transgenes increased leaf triacylglycerol levels in high-leaf oil plants by upregulating endogenous genes involved in lipid biosynthesis at the expense of biomass reduction, altered leaf lipid content and profile, and a decrease in unsaturation levels of membrane lipids compared to WT plants. Furthermore, the biomass penalty in high-leaf oil plants could reduce canopy transpiration, which led to better performance under water stress conditions. The wild-type and the high-leaf oil plants showed enhanced triacylglycerol accumulation under water stress but through different mechanisms.

The study concluded that moderate water stress enhanced oil production in high-leaf oil plants, highlighting the potential of this technology for sustainable oil production under future water scarcity due to climate change.

Read the research article in Plant Physiology.