As one of the major constituents of plants, lipids have received considerable attention from plant biochemists. Interest has recently intensified and broadened following exciting new discoveries of particular relevance to industry, ranging from the elucidation of new biosynthetic pathways sensitive to herbicide action to the successful genetic manipulation of the quality of food oils. This volume brings together contributions from those working on plant lipid biosynthesis, both with respect to the fundamentals of the process and also on more specifically applied aspects. Together, these contributions provide an up-to-date review of the most exciting recent advances which illustrate that the fundamental and applied approaches are complementary and synergistic.