PLANT OILS, MOSTLY STORED AS TRIACYLGLYCEROLS (TAG) IN THEIR SEED AND NON-SEED TISSUES ARE AN IMPORTANT SOURCE FOR HUMAN AND ANIMAL NUTRITION, OIL INDUSTRIES AND RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES. VEGETABLE OIL ALONE ACCOUNTS FOR 25% OF HUMAN DIETARY CALORIES AND ITS DEMAND IS EXPECTED TO DOUBLE BY 2030. OUR RESEARCH IS PRIMARILY FOCUSED ON UNDERSTANDING THE KEY FACTORS THAT REGULATE OIL CONTENT AND COMPOSITION IN PLANT TISSUES WITH A GOAL TO ENHANCE THE PRODUCTION OF NUTRITIONALLY RICH OIL FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. WE ARE SPECIFICALLY INTERESTED IN HOW AVOCADO (PERSEA AMERICANA) REGULATES THE SYNTHESIS AND ACCUMULATION OF HEART-HEALTHY AND NUTRITIONALLY-RICH OIL (~ 60-70% BY DRY WEIGHT) IN ITS FRUIT. PREVIOUSLY, WRINKLED1 (WRI1) WAS SHOWN TO SERVE AS A MASTER REGULATOR OF OIL BIOSYNTHESIS IN SEED TISSUES AND HAS BEEN EXTENSIVELY EXPLOITED TO ENHANCE OIL BIOSYNTHESIS IN OTHER SEED CROPS. IN AVOCADO FRUIT, WE IDENTIFIED HIGH EXPRESSION LEVELS FOR THREE GENES THAT ENCODE FOR PROTEINS SIMILAR TO THAT WRI1, DURING THE PERIOD OF OIL ACCUMULATION. THUS, WE AIM TO IDENTIFY IF THERE ARE ANY UNIQUE STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL FEATURES IN THESE AVOCADO GENES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO TAG ACCUMULATION IN NON-SEED TISSUES, RELATIVE TO WRI1 IN OILSEED CROPS. SPECIFICALLY, WE WILL DETERMINE THE ROLE AND NECESSITY OF STRUCTURAL FEATURES SUCH AS AP2 DOMAINS, PEST MOTIFS, INTRINSICALLY DISORDERED REGIONS AND PHOSPHORYLATION SITES IN TRANSCRIPTIONAL ACTIVITY OF AVOCADO WRI1, WRI2 AND WRI3. ADDITIONALLY, WE WILL DETERMINE IF THESE TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATORS ALONG WITH TWO OTHER TAG SYNTHESIS GENES CAN IMPROVE OIL CONTENT THAT IS ENRICHED WITH OLEIC ACID IN BOTH NON-SEED AND SEED TISSUES. THE SHORT-TERM GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO UNDERSTAND THE FUNCTIONALITY AND SYNERGISTIC ROLE OF WRI-LIKE TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATORS IN AVOCADO TO UTILIZE THEM AS AN EFFECTIVE MEANS TO INCREASE OIL ACCUMULATION IN OTHER TISSUES AND CROPS.