Cuphea

Structurally divergent lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferases with high selectivity for saturated medium chain fatty acids from Cuphea seeds

“…The fatty acid compositions of seed oils of Cuphea species are among the most divergent in nature, with many species, including those examined here, producing TAGs with more than 90% 8:0 and 10:0 fatty acids (Graham and Knapp, ; Graham and Kleiman, ; Phippen, ; Olejniczak, ). Previous studies have clearly implicated FatB acyl ACP thioesterases with substrate specificities for short‐ and medium‐chain acyl ACPs as primary determinants of this fatty acid composition (Dehesh et al ., ; Leonard et al ., ; Filichkin et al ., ; Kim et al ., ).…”

“…A few plant species, such as those in the Cuphea genus, are known to produce MCFAs (Hirsinger, ; Graham and Knapp, ; Davies et al ., ). However, poor agronomic performance has limited domestication of Cuphea species as oilseed crops for MCFA production (Phippen, ; Olejniczak, ). Despite this, Cuphea species are an important source of transgenes to enable synthesis and metabolism of MCFAs in established oilseed crops (Dehesh et al ., ,b; Leonard et al ., , ; Slabaugh et al ., ; Filichkin et al ., ; Kim et al ., ).…”

Toward production of jet fuel functionality in oilseeds: identification of FatB acyl-acyl carrier protein thioesterases and evaluation of combinatorial expression strategies inCamelinaseeds

“…Cuphea oil showed favourable fuel properties for biodiesel in functionality testing due to its high content of MCFAs ( Geller et al , 1999 ; Knothe et al , 2009 ; Lovestead et al , 2010 ; Knothe, 2014 ). Even though many Cuphea species have been characterized as the potential oil crop for MCFAs, non-desired traits such as indeterminate flowering, seed shattering, seed dormancy, viscid and glandular trichomes in vegetative tissues and flowers, and open pollination have limited attempts to domesticate Cuphea species for agronomic production ( Olejniczak, 2011 ). Therefore, Cuphea species have been considered as valuable genetic resources to isolate genes that encode specialized biosynthetic enzymes for transgenic production of MCFAs in established oilseed crops ( Dehesh et al , 1996a, b ; Leonard et al , 1997 , 1998 ; Slabaugh et al , 1998 ; Filichkin et al , 2006 ).…”

The Genus Cuphea P. Browne as a Source of Biologically Active Phytochemicals for Pharmaceutical Application and Beyond—A Review

“…Therefore, Cuphea s are considered as potential replacements for currently exploited industrial sources of MCFA’s, such as Cocos nucifera L. (coconut) and Elaeis guineensis Jacq. (palm kernel) [ 19 , 20 ].…”

“…For this reason, much attention has recently been given to the domestication of Cuphea s suitable for large-scale cultivation [ 19 ]. However, this is not an easy task due to several characteristics typical of non-domesticated species that limit their agricultural suitability, such as an indeterminate pattern of continuous flowering, a hard seed coat and consequent dormancy, early seed shedding and shattering from maturing fruits, glandular trichomes on stems, and floral tubes that produce sticky/resinous substances [ 19 , 21 ]. For example, shattering of seed pods can lead to significant, almost 100%, seed loss [ 22 ].…”