Production of arachidonic and eicosapentaenoic acids in plants using bryophyte fatty acid Delta6-desaturase, Delta6-elongase, and Delta5-desaturase genes.
The liverwort Marchantia polymorpha L. synthesizes arachidonic (ARA) and eicosapentaenoic acids (EPA) from linoleic and alpha-linolenic acids respectively by a series of reactions catalyzed by Delta6-desaturase, Delta6-elongase, and Delta5-desaturase. Overexpression of the M. polymorpha genes encoding these enzymes in transgenic M. polymorpha plants resulted in 3- and 2-fold accumulation of ARA and EPA respectively, as compared to those in the wild type. When these three genes were introduced and co-expressed in tobacco plants, in which long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) are not native cellular components, ARA and EPA represented up to 15.5% and 4.9% respectively of the total fatty acid in the leaves. Similarly in soybean, C20-LCPUFAs represented up to 19.5% of the total fatty acids in the seeds. These results suggest that M. polymorpha can provide genes crucial to the production of C20-LCPUFAs in transgenic plants.
Kajikawa
Masataka
M
Division of Integrated Life Science, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Japan.
Matsui
Keisuke
K
Ochiai
Misa
M
Tanaka
Yoshikazu
Y
Kita
Yoichi
Y
Ishimoto
Masao
M
Kohzu
Yoshito
Y
Shoji
Shin-ichiro
S
Yamato
Katsuyuki T
KT
Ohyama
Kanji
K
Fukuzawa
Hideya
H
Kohchi
Takayuki
T
D001095:Arachidonic Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases / Q000378:metabolism*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D035926:Hepatophyta / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013025:Glycine max / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*
D001095:Arachidonic Acids; D017931:DNA Primers; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases