沙棘是防风固沙和水土保持的重要经济树种，富含生物活性成分的沙棘油(种子和果肉油)的全球需求量正日益增加。为提高种子(7-11%)和果肉含油量(1-5%)，需系统而深入地研究其合成、积累和分配的调控机制。本项目以亲缘关系近、油含量差异明显的多对种质及无籽沙棘的不同生长发育期果实为材料，采用非目标(GC-MS、LC-MS和NMR)和目标的代谢组学、油合成相关基因表达的qRT-PCR及酶活性分析相结合的方法，鉴定种子和果肉油合成与积累的关键代谢物、代谢途径和调控位点，解析特异表达基因和酶在种子和果肉油形成中的作用，揭示油含量及其重要脂肪酸组分在种子和果肉间分配的调控机制，鉴定克隆调控果肉高积累omega-7脂肪酸的关键基因。这将首次阐明油含量及其重要脂肪酸组分在非种子组织与种子间分配的分子调控机制，可为理解木本油料植物的油合成和积累提供新依据，对种子和果肉油含量均高的双高型沙棘育种具有重要意义。

The increasing demand for bioactive oils, which are being widely used in food, feed, health-promoting and medical products, can only be met by increased oil production. One way to achieve this is to increase oil yield of oil crops through manipulation of metabolic factors and processes that regulate oil biosynthesis and accumulation in oil-bearing non-seed tissues and seeds. Despite a detailed understanding of metabolic pathways in the oil-accumulating tissues (usually seeds), our knowledge on metabolic control of oil accumulation is limited, and there is virtually no information on regulatory interaction of oil production between non-seed tissues and seeds...Sea buckthorn (Hippophae L.) is a widely distributed woody shrub or small tree with an unusual ability to thrive in unfertilized habitats and the arid and semi-arid areas that are presently increasing due to global warming. This species contains bioactive oils both in the seeds (omega-3 and omega-6 acids) and in the berry pulp (high levels of omega-7 acid). These oils are bioactive per se and also rich in other bioactive compounds with powerful nutritional and medicinal properties, and are being used worldwide to an increasing extent. Presently, the demand for sea buckthorn oils in the world exceeds 3000 tons per year, but output is only about 1800 tons per year. One way to increase sea buckthorn oils availability is to unravel biological mechanisms of oil biosynthesis and accumulation in pulp and seeds, which presently amounts to only 7–11% in the seeds and 1–5% in the pulp...The main objective of this project is to create an advanced innovative multi-technique platform, which can improve our understanding of oil biosynthesis and accumulation and enable identification of key genes for future use in cultivar improvement. Based on our already available sea buckthorn germplasm with high diversity in oil contents and components, including some accessions with unique seedless berries, we will use untargeted (GC-MS, LC-MS and NMR) and targeted metabolomics strategies and integrate these with qRT-PCR analyses and enzyme assays to i) identify key metabolic, biochemical and enzymatic processes and factors with a major role in oil biosynthesis and accumulation in pulp and seeds, especially regulatory systems that control allocation of oil contents and components (especially omega-3, omega-6 and omega-7) between these two tissues, and ii) to identify the key genes that regulate high-content accumulation of omega-7 acid in pulp...This will produce new knowledge about the metabolic factors and processes that are responsible for oil biosynthesis and accumulation in non-seed tissues and seeds for insufficiently investigated woody oil sea buckthorns, especially the regulatory system that controls carbon partitioning between these tissues, and also provide the potential for selecting and breeding superior cultivars of oil sea buckthorns with high-oil non-seed tissues (pulp) and seeds.