The need

The North Central (NC) committee, Lipids In Plants: Improving and Developing Sustainability of Crops (or “LIPIDS of Crops”) will work together to characterize lipid-related metabolism and traits relevant for crop improvement and to develop crops with improved yield, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, and/or nutritional and industrial qualities. In doing so, the group will directly address different Program Themes of the USDA 2020 - 2025 Science Blueprint, including Ag Climate Adaptation, Food and Nutrition Translation and Value-Added Innovations. 

Lipids play critical structural, metabolic, and regulatory roles in all aspects of plant growth and development and in responses to environmental challenges. In addition, plant oils are an important source of nutrition for humans and livestock, and their trade generates billions of dollars annually. Dependence on plant oils for renewable chemical feedstocks and biofuel uses has also increased. Despite the importance of plant lipids, many fundamental questions remain unanswered about lipid compositions, metabolism, and function, impeding improvement of crop productivity and oilseed yields and fatty acid quality for human and livestock nutrition and industrial uses.

The importance of the work

Each plant is a green factory that uses solar energy and carbon dioxide to produce tens of thousands of compounds. Many thousands are non-water soluble compounds called lipids; these include photosynthetic pigments that harvest sunlight, building blocks of cellular membranes, protective and structural materials, seed oils, vitamins, plant (phyto-) hormones, signaling molecules, and essential oils that attract pollinators or repel insect and microbial predators. Despite their biological and economic importance, lipids are the least explored central metabolites. Limited understanding of plant lipid metabolism and function limits our ability to increase production of food and renewable resources for the growing population. In fact, the physiological functions of many plant genes putatively encoding lipid-metabolizing enzymes are unknown and their substrates are not defined. Although many plant lipids function as hormones and signaling messengers, the regulatory roles and networks through which lipids mediate plant growth and development are woefully unclear. Answers to these questions are essential for informed crop improvement through breeding and biotechnology.

The technical feasibility of the research

LIPIDS of Crops will improve and extend methods for lipid characterization and measurement, identify and characterize lipid related metabolism and traits relevant for crop improvement, and develop crops with improved yield and/or functionality. Approaches for lipid analysis will include mass spectrometry, imaging approaches, and flux analysis. One hindrance to significant expansion of current knowledge of plant lipids is less-than-adequate methodology to address central questions about lipid metabolism and lipid function. LIPIDS of Crops members will combine forces and share information to improve and implement lipid analytical strategies that will advance understanding of plant metabolism, regulation, development, and stress response, and enable plant improvements to increase food, feed, and seed oil production. Approaches for identifying and characterizing lipid-related traits will include analysis of genetic variants in lipid-related genes, biochemical approaches, and physiological analyses. Development of crops with improved yield and/or functionality will be via marker-assisted breeding or transformation with the relevant genes. GInitial group members have the relevant technical capabilities and access to instrumentation to pursue all aspects of the research.

The advantages of doing the work as a multistate effort

The multistate effort will provide a framework to enhance collaboration and sharing of resources, expertise, and instrumentation to accelerate progress among the high concentration of plant lipid researchers in the North Central Region and colleagues across the country.

Likely impacts of the work

The impacts will be

• a collaborative plant lipid research group, poised to participate in new opportunities


• more efficient analytical pipeline to obtain information on lipid metabolism and traits relevant for crop improvement,


• better understanding and improvement of plant growth during development, and under biotic and abiotic stress conditions


• knowledge of seed metabolism and biology for improvement of seed oils


• improvement of crop productivity and quality for human and livestock nutrition and the bio-based economy.