Towards Production of Industrial Oils from Camelina Year Two

In addition to food uses, vegetable oils are increasingly a source for renewable biomaterials and biofuels. Recent progress in the development of a biobased economy is focused on introduction and improvement of novel crop plants for non-food applications. The proposed project is part of an international collaborative effort to develop camelina as a new industrial oil platform. Our role is to increase oil content of camelina by (1) using a directed-evolution technique and our unique high-throughput screening system to boost the activity of the key enzymes in seed oil accumulation, and (2) introduce these variants into camelina. This project further advances the sponsors existing camelina development program aimed at developing a new crop alternative with economic benefits for producers and the emerging bioproducts industry. It has the potential to create new intellectual property and germplasm for both the sponsor and academic partner.

Faculty Supervisor:

Randall Weselake

Student:

Geetha Ramakrishnan

Partner:

Alberta Innovates Technology Futures

Discipline:

Food science

Sector:

Management of companies and enterprises

University:

University of Alberta