Characterization of a KCS-like KASII from Jessenia bataua that elongates saturated and monounsaturated stearic acids in Arabidopsis thaliana.
As the world population grows, the demand for food increases. Although vegetable oils provide an affordable and rich source of energy, the supply of vegetable oils available for human consumption is limited by the "fuel vs food" debate. To increase the nutritional value of vegetable oil, metabolic engineering may be used to produce oil crops of desirable fatty acid composition. We have isolated and characterized β-ketoacyl ACP-synthase II (KASII) cDNA from a high-oleic acid palm, Jessenia bataua. Jessenia KASII (JbKASII) encodes a 488-amino acid polypeptide that possesses conserved domains that are necessary for condensing activities. When overexpressed in E. coli, recombinant His-tagged JbKASII was insoluble and non-functional. However, Arabidopsis plants expressing GFP-JbKASII fusions had elevated levels of arachidic acid (C20:0) and erucic acid (C22:1) at the expense of stearic acid (C18:0) and oleic acid (C18:1). Furthermore, JbKASII failed to complement the Arabidopsis KASII mutant, fab1-2. This suggests that the substrate specificity of JbKASII is similar to that of ketoacyl-CoA synthase (KCS), which preferentially elongates stearic and oleic acids, and not palmitic acid. Our results suggest that the KCS-like JbKASII may elongate C18:0 and C18:1 to yield C20:0 and C22:1, respectively. JbKASII may, therefore, be an interesting candidate gene for promoting the production of very long chain fatty acids in transgenic oil crops.
Malaysian Palm Oil Board (Advanced Biotechnology and Breeding Centre), No. 6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia. okteh@mpob.gov.my
Ooi-Kock
OK
Teh
Umi Salamah
US
Ramli
D015099:3-Oxoacyl-(Acyl-Carrier-Protein) Synthase / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D028023:Arecaceae / Q000201:enzymology*; D004537:Eicosanoic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019301:Oleic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013229:Stearic Acids / Q000378:metabolism*
D004537:Eicosanoic Acids; D010940:Plant Proteins; D013229:Stearic Acids; D019301:Oleic Acid; D015099:3-Oxoacyl-(Acyl-Carrier-Protein) Synthase; C094477:arachidic acid