Vegetable oils are one of the main agricultural commodities. Demand has been increasing steadily over the last five decades and, with finite land available, it is vital that we increase productivity. My laboratory has focused on the regulation of plant lipid metabolism and, as part of this work, we identified diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) as important at regulating carbon flux during oil accumulation. This led to collaborations with Randy Weselake's research group when we quantified the importance of DGAT in oilseed rape by using flux control analysis. Later, with David Taylor, we showed that over‐expression of DGAT boosted oil accumulation in field‐grown crops by around 8%. These studies led to a multitude of experiments with different oil crops, such as oil palm and soybean, as well as many rewarding collaborations with Randy.

中文翻译：

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与 Randy 合作：二酰基甘油酰基转移酶的故事。

植物油是主要的农产品之一。在过去的五年里，需求一直在稳步增长，由于可用土地有限，我们提高生产力至关重要。我的实验室专注于植物脂质代谢的调节，作为这项工作的一部分，我们发现二酰基甘油酰基转移酶 (DGAT) 在调节油积累过程中的碳通量方面很重要。当我们使用通量控制分析量化 DGAT 在油菜中的重要性时，我们与 Randy Weselake 的研究小组进行了合作。后来，我们与 David Taylor 一起表明，DGAT 的过度表达使田间作物的油积累增加了约 8%。这些研究导致了对不同油料作物（如油棕和大豆）的大量实验，以及与 Randy 的许多有益合作。