enzyme schematic (IMAGE)
Caption
A plant enzyme called ACCase acts like a four-gear "machine" to crank out fatty acids, the building blocks of oil. High levels of ordinary fatty acids, or even small amounts of specialty hydroxy fatty acids, trigger a substitution in the machinery: BADC, which acts like a gear with no teeth, takes the place of BCCP, slowing production down. Plants bred to lack genes for making BADC could potentially produce large amounts of economically important fatty acids.
Credit
Brookhaven National Laboratory
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