Castor plant is reported to have an advanced protein molecular machinery for the conversion of storage lipids to carbohydrates mediated through glyoxysomes  to accomplish this process.Carbohydrate bio-synthesis from lipids requires the catalytic function of isocitrate lyase in the glyoxylate cycle whose synthesis occurs in cytolplasm but functional activity is confined to glyoxysomes.The  signal sequences of the enzyme implicated in transportation to its right sub-cellular compartment stand to be a subject of debate as contradictory results have been made so far regarding this phenomenon.To unravel this,researchers have made genetic mutations in sites which is at the carboxy terminus of the enzyme which in its wild type proved to show an homology with standard isoforms from sunflower and Arabidopsis. in vitro studies on the mutant variants of isocitrate lyase revealed an import of the mutant enzyme into glyoxysomes which is further supplemented by the localization of the mutant enzyme in the concerned organelles under in vivo transgenic model lines.

The results turned to be startling for the researchers as they finally concluded that the transportation is driven by hidden signal sequences to be discovered and basically distinct from the members characterized earlier or independent of their experimental sequence.

Isocitrate lyase function is crucial for the plant development andd probing it through genetics and biochemical analysis would enable scientists to have a better understanding of the germination and glycobiology in castor.

For detailed reference:http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/112/4/1457.full.pdf