Highlights of recent progress in plant lipid research

• Published in: Plant physiology and biochemistry Vol. 47; no. 6; pp. 443 - 447
• Main Authors: Lessire, R., Cahoon, E., Chapman, K., Dyer, J., Eastmond, P., Heinz, E.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Paris Elsevier Masson SAS 01.06.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biofuels; Biological and medical sciences; Conservation of Energy Resources; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Helianthus; Lipid signaling; Lipidomics; Lipids - physiology; Plant lipids; Plant Oils - metabolism; Plant Physiological Phenomena; Plant physiology and development; Polyunsaturated fatty acids; Seed oils; Waxes; France, Aquitaine, Bordeaux; Lipid signaling; Polyunsaturated fatty acids; Seed oils; Lipidomics; Plant lipids; Waxes; Biofuels; Polyunsaturated fatty acid; Lipids; Vegetable oil; Research; Wax; Plant physiology
• ISSN: 0981-9428; 1873-2690
• DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2009.02.010

Raw fossil material reserves are not inexhaustible and as prices continue to raise it is necessary to find new sources of alternative and renewable energy. Oils from oleaginous field crops (sunflower and rape) with properties close to those of fossil fuel could constitute an alternative source of energy for the production of raw materials. This is the context in which the 18th International Symposium on Plant lipids (ISPL) was held in Bordeaux from 20th to 25th July 2008 at “La Cité Mondiale”. The 18th ISPL gathered 270 researchers from 33 countries. Sixty nine oral communications and 136 posters were presented during the 12 sessions of the Symposium. The sessions have covered all the different aspects of the Plant Lipid field including: Surface lipids: suberin, cutin and waxes, Fatty acids, Glycerolipids, Plant lipids as renewable sources of energy, Seed oils and bioengineering of metabolic pathways, Lipid catabolism, Models for lipid studies: lower plants, micro-organisms and others, Modifications of proteins by lipids, Sphingolipids, sterols and isoprenoids, Lipid signaling and plant stress responses, Lipid trafficking and membrane dynamics, New methods and technologies: functional lipidomics, fluxome, modelling. During the ISPL 2008 Bordeaux, important and new information was reported in the different fields. A selection of these results is presented here.