Metabolic engineering of plants for polyunsaturated fatty acid production |
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| Authors: | Martin Truksa Patricia Vrinten Xiao Qiu |
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| Affiliation: | (1) Bioriginal Food and Science Corporation, Saskatoon, SK, Canada;(2) Present address: Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada;(3) Department of Food and Bioproduct Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada |
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| Abstract: | Very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLCPUFAs) have demonstrated health benefits. Currently, the main sources for these fatty acids are oils from fish and microbes. However, shrinking fish populations and the high cost of microbial oil extraction are making the economic sustainability of these sources questionable. Metabolic engineering of oilseed crops could provide a novel and sustainable source of VLCPUFAs. Recently, genes encoding desaturases and elongases from microbes have been identified and successfully expressed in oilseed plants. However, the levels of VLCPUFAs produced in transgenic plants expressing these genes are still much lower than those found in native microbes. This review assesses the recent progress and future perspectives in the metabolic engineering of PUFAs in plants. |
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| Keywords: | Polyunsaturated fatty acids Transgenic plants Metabolic engineering |
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