Transgenic mice: fat-1 mice convert n-6 to n-3 fatty acids.
Mammals cannot naturally produce omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids--beneficial nutrients found mainly in fish oil--from the more abundant omega-6 (n-6) fatty acids and so they must rely on a dietary supply. Here we show that mice engineered to carry a fat-1 gene from the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans can add a double bond into an unsaturated fatty-acid hydrocarbon chain and convert n-6 to n-3 fatty acids. This results in an abundance of n-3 and a reduction in n-6 fatty acids in the organs and tissues of these mice, in the absence of dietary n-3. As well as presenting an opportunity to investigate the roles played by n-3 fatty acids in the body, our discovery indicates that this technology might be adapted to enrich n-3 fatty acids in animal products such as meat, milk and eggs.
Kang
Jing X
JX
Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA. kang.jing@mgh.harvard.edu
Wang
Jingdong
J
Wu
Lin
L
Kang
Zhao B
ZB
D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D043371:Fatty Acids, Omega-6 / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D005502:Food; D019649:Food Industry / Q000639:trends; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004041:Dietary Fats; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D043371:Fatty Acids, Omega-6; C466741:fat-1 protein, C elegans; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases