title: Cloning and functional characterization of the fatty acid elongase 1 (FAE1) gene from high erucic Crambe abyssinica cv. Prophet.
abstract: A genomic fatty acid elongation 1 (FAE1) clone was isolated from Crambe abyssinica. The genomic clone corresponds to a 1521-bp open reading frame, which encodes a protein of 507 amino acids. In yeast cells expression of CrFAE led to production of new very long chain monounsaturated fatty acids such as eicosenoic (20:1(delta11)) and erucic (22:1(delta13)) acids. Seed-specific expression in Arabidopsis thaliana resulted in up to a 12-fold increase in the proportion of erucic acid. On the other hand, in transgenic high-erucic Brassica carinata plants, the proportion of erucic acid was as high as 51.9% in the best transgenic line, a net increase of 40% compared to wild type. These results indicate that the CrFAE gene encodes a condensing enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of very long-chain fatty acids utilizing monounsaturated and saturated acyl substrates, with a strong capability for improving the erucic acid content.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 51 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5A8.
authors.forename: Elzbieta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mietkiewska
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Brost
authors.forename: E Michael
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Giblin
authors.forename: Dennis L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D000123:Acetyltransferases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001937:Brassica / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D031218:Crambe Plant / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004883:Erucic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D000081031:Fatty Acid Elongases; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000378:metabolism; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant; D004883:Erucic Acids; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D010940:Plant Proteins; C049811:erucic acid; D000123:Acetyltransferases; D000081031:Fatty Acid Elongases