Malaysia is the second largest producer of palm oil in the world. The major problems faced by the industry are labour and arable land shortages. MPOB has identified genetic engineering as a promising strategy that could be utilised to face the above challenges (Parveex,1998). As shown in other crops, palm oil carotene composition can also be potentially be modified by manipulating the activity of the key enzyme involved in carotenoid biosynthesis namely, phytoene synthase (PSY). There are two species of oil palm, Elaies guineensis and Elaeis oliefera. E. oleifera produces oil with higher amount of total carotene of about 4000 parts per million (ppm) compared to E. guineensis (500-700 ppm) (Yap et al., 1991). Therefore, it is believed that E. oleifera’s psy is more active than E. guineensis’ psy. As such, carotenoid content of E. guineensis could potentially be increased by overexpressing psy gene from E. oleifera.

Main Research: Wan Nur Syuhada Wan Sulaiman