Scientists Behind the Seed - 1

Orphan Crop Shows Promise

Camelina is Jan Jaworski's favorite crop. This lab rat of the plant world has potential to be an energy powerhouse, according to the biochemist at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. (DTN photo by Pamela Smith)

DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- The spindly camelina plant may look like more of a weed than a crop, but Jan Jaworski hopes the oilseed will one day find a place in U.S. farm fields. A plant biochemist conducting research at the nonprofit research institute Donald Danforth Plant Science Center has a longer view than most.

"Our mission is to feed the hungry and improve the environment through plant science," said Jaworski, who joined the St. Louis research center after 28 years on the faculty of Miami University in Ohio. "Most of what we are researching will have an impact 10 to 20 years into the future. However, because the center is completely independent and dependent upon research grants, we live by our wits. There really is no other plant science research institution quite like this center."

Jaworski is the first in a series of articles about four modern-day plant pioneers and their contributions to agriculture. (For more about the series, see Pam Smith's Production Blog "Meet the Plant Innovators" at http://bit.ly/…)

It turns out that camelina, a distant cousin to canola, is unique, too. The Danforth Center has many research projects, but this crop has captured Jaworski's enthusiasm for a multitude of reasons. For many years, scientists have used a tiny plant called arabidopsis as the equivalent of a lab rat for genetic experiments.

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Camelina is quickly gaining status as a better model plant. "Arabidopsis is wonderful for understanding plant biology, but it is not very useful for understanding agricultural traits, especially yield," Jaworski noted.

"Just as a mouse is not a person, arabidopsis is not a crop, and it never will be. Camelina, on the other hand, has the potential of actually going into a farmer's field if we can find ways to make it valuable and profitable."

It was the discovery that camelina plants could be easily genetically transformed that makes Jaworski an advocate. "Genetically engineering soybean, corn and canola are all very challenging and must be done through tissue culture. It's expensive and requires highly trained scientists," he explained.

"Camelina requires no tissue culture. It turns out that, for reasons we don't understand, you can genetically engineer the plant by simply dipping the flower into a solution that contains the bacteria with genes of interest." It's thought that the bacteria cause the equivalent of a short-lived infection that allows genes to integrate with the plant. No other crop has been found to work in this simple way.

"It is a very easy plant to work with in a laboratory and greenhouse setting. Findings are applicable to many other crops, particularly canola," Jaworski added.

Already an oil-rich crop, he is also working to engineer camelina with genes for the synthesis of fatty acids to increase the amount of oil for biofuels. With this research, his lab is obtaining a basic understanding of pathways involved in plant lipid synthesis.

Once popular in Europe, camelina acreage all but disappeared from the agronomic landscape. Jaworski says the cool-weather crop appears to be drought-tolerant and requires fewer inputs than other oilseeds. His guess is lack of yield caused its demise.

"I think it is a plant that is ripe for success. Because it is so easy and cheap to work with, we can do almost crazy experiments without risk. While that also means chance of failure, it also sometimes results in high reward," he said. One of Jaworski's fellow scientists has already discovered a gene that improves camelina oil content by 10%. Such discoveries are just what this orphan crop needs to find a good home.

Pamela Smith can be reached at Pamela.smith@telventdtn.com

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