Method for Improving Cuphea Oil Seed Production by Eliminating Premature Pod Shattering

Background: Cuphea is a tropically grown flowering plant which is known as a rich source of medium-chain fatty acids having high commercial value. However, this plant is not commercially utilized in large-scale agriculture due to its characteristic, sequential maturation and release of oil seeds from the seed pods, which precludes mechanized harvesting. Cuphea is generally harvested by hand at present. Technology which would allow the cultivation and harvesting of Cuphea using modern agricultural methods and equipment would have the potential to create a new, high-value, oil-seed crop of major industrial importance.

Technology Description: A UCSD scientist has discovered a transgenic construct that suppresses seed pod shattering in the laboratory by constitutively expressing a gene in arabidopsis thaliana that appears to be necessary and sufficient expression of the dehiscence zone and subsequent valve opening.. The gene is fully expressible in other species. Seed release (shattering) can be delayed or stopped completely by altering the expressions of this gene. Applied specifically to the construction of transgenic Cuphea displaying severe delay of natural pod shattering, this invention has the potential to yield for the first time a practical crop technology for modern commercialization of this species, and economical exploitation of its high-value oil.

Advantages: In the control of shattering generally, substantial losses of yield occur every year from premature seed dispersal, so delaying or halting seed release could allow for much greater seed recovery, to boost yields. In the case of Cuphea bearing this transgene, this invention creates a new crop plant for the production of medium-chain fatty acids. This technology has the added advantage of increasing seed size as well as delaying or preventing natural pod shattering. Shatter-resistant transgenic Cuphea may provide an important new source of income for Third World countries where it is currently harvested by hand on a small scale.

CASE NUMBER: SD1998-063

INQUIRIES TO: invent@ucsd.edu