[Progress in molecular biology of Jatropha curcas]

Jatropha curcas L., has been widely recognized as a potential source of biodiesel. In this review, we presented several aspects about the recent progress in molecular biology of J. curcas. First, molecular markers were used to assess its genetic diversity. Second, large-scale genome, transcriptome and proteome analyses were applied for decoding its molecular network. Third, functional characterization of key genes involved in metabolism and regulation of plant development was performed to breed lines with higher quality or higher resistance. Finally, we discussed the limitation of current progress and then proposed the future molecular biology research on J. curcas.