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2019-09-02

Falarz, Lucas, Xu, Yang, Singer, Stacy D., Chen, Guanqun

Phospholipid:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (PDAT) catalyzes the acyl‐CoA‐independent triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis in plants and oleaginous microorganisms and thus is a key target in lipid research. The conventional in vitro PDAT activity assay involves the use of radiolabeled substrates,...

2018-03-03

Holic, Roman, Xu, Yang, Caldo, Kristian Mark P., Singer, Stacy D., Field, Catherine J., Weselake, Randall J., Chen, Guanqun

Punicic acid (PuA; 18: 3Δ 9cis,11trans,13cis ) is an unusual 18-carbon fatty acid bearing three conjugated double bonds. It has been shown to exhibit a myriad of beneficial bioactivities including anti-cancer, anti-diabetes, anti-obesity, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. Pomegranate...

2019-12-26

Nguyen, Trinh, Xu, Yang, Abdel-Hameed, Mona, Sorensen, John L., Singer, Stacy D., Chen, Guanqun

Haematococcus pluvialis is a green microalga used in the algal biotechnology industry that can accumulate considerable amounts of storage triacylglycerol (TAG) and astaxanthin, which is a high‐value carotenoid with strong antioxidant activity, under stress conditions. Diacylglycerol...

2020-06-15

Falarz, Lucas J., Xu, Yang, Caldo, Kristian Mark P., Garroway, Colin J., Singer, Stacy D., Chen, Guanqun

Triacylglycerols have important physiological roles in photosynthetic organisms, and are widely used as food, feed and industrial materials in our daily life. Phospholipid:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (PDAT) is the pivotal enzyme catalyzing the acyl‐CoA‐independent biosynthesis of...

2018-12-13

Xu, Yang, Falarz, Lucas, Chen, Guanqun

Diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) catalyzes the last and committed step of the acyl-CoA-dependent TAG biosynthesis and thus is a key target for manipulating oil production in microalgae. The microalga Chromochloris zofingiensis can accumulate substantial amounts of triacylglycerol (TAG) and...

2018-12-17

Xu, Yang, Caldo, Kristian Mark P., Holic, Roman, Mietkiewska, Elzbieta, Ozga, Jocelyn, Rizvi, Syed Masood, Chen, Guanqun, Weselake, Randall

Long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase (LACS, EC 6.2.1.3) catalyzes the ATP-dependent activation of free fatty acid to form acyl-CoA, which in turn serves as the major acyl donor for various lipid metabolic pathways. Increasing the size of acyl-CoA pool by enhancing LACS activity appears to be a useful...

Spring 2018

Xu, Yang

Triacylglycerol (TAG) is the major storage lipid in higher plants and has great nutritional and industrial value. Plant storage lipid biosynthesis involves different subcellular compartments and a complex network of enzymes and proteins. Among them, endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-bound diacylglycerol...

2019-12-31

Wijekoon, Champa P., Singer, Stacy D., Weselake, Randall J., Petrie, James R., Singh, Surinder, Jayawardhane, Kethmi N., Shah, Saleh, Chen, Guanqun, Eastmond, Peter J., Acharya, Surya N.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifoila Scop.) are two key forage legumes for the western Canadian cattle industry. Despite the high protein content, drawbacks to their use exists, including inefficient protein digestibility and energy use efficiency in the ruminant...

2021-01-01

Xu, Yang, Pan, Xue, Lu, Junhao, Wang, Juli, Shan, Qiyuan, Stout, Jake, Chen, Guanqun

Abstract: Wax synthase (WS) catalyzes the last step in wax ester biosynthesis in green plants. Two unrelated subfamilies of WS including the bifunctional acyltransferase and plant-like WS have been reported, but the latter is largely uncharacterized in microalgae. Here, we functionally...

2017-09-10

Chen, Guanqun, Vanhercke, Thomas, Chen, Yongyan, Mietkiewska, Elzbieta, Siloto, Rodrigo M. P., Niesner, Nathalie, Xu, Yang, Caldo, Kristian Mark P., Weselake, Randall J., El Tahchy, Anna

Diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1) catalyzes the acyl-CoA-dependent biosynthesis of triacylglycerol, the predominant component of seed oil. In some oil crops, including Brassica napus, the level of DGAT1 activity can have a substantial effect on triacylglycerol production....