Abstract
A biofuel plant Jatropha curcas is resistant to drought and grows in the marginal lands. This plant accumulates approximately 30-40% of oil in the seeds. Since this plant has the advantage of avoiding competition of arable lands with food crops, it has been attracting attention as one of the main resources for the next-generation biodiesel fuel. However, the molecular mechanism of lipid biosynthesis in the fruit of this plant has been largely unknown. In this study, we performed comprehensive analyses on the expression profile of lipid biosynthetic genes and the pattern of metabolite accumulation during fruit development from post-anthesis to the maturation phase. Consequently, it was revealed that the lipid content in the fruit increased rapidly at the final phase of the fruit maturation. The next-generation sequencing and quantitative RT-PCR analyses revealed that a set of lipid biosynthetic genes were coordinately up-regulated at the final phase of the fruit maturation. These results suggested that the orchestrated transcriptional regulation of the lipid biosynthetic genes may play a pivotal role in the massive lipid accumulation in the developing Jatropha fruit.
