The high-level accumulation of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in transgenic pigs harboring the n-3 fatty acid desaturase gene from Caenorhabditis briggsae.
Livestock meat is generally low in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which are beneficial to human health. An alternative approach to increasing the levels of n-3 PUFAs in meat is to generate transgenic livestock animals. In this study, we describe the generation of cloned pigs that express the cbr-fat-1 gene from Caenorhabditis briggsae, encoding an n-3 fatty acid desaturase. Analysis of fatty acids demonstrated that the cbr-fat-1 transgenic pigs produced high levels of n-3 fatty acids from n-6 analogs; consequently, a significantly reduced ratio of n-6/n-3 fatty acids was observed. We demonstrated that the n-3 desaturase gene from C. briggsae was functionally expressed, and had a significant effect on the fatty acid composition of the transgenic pigs, which may allow the production of pork enriched in n-3 PUFAs.
Cell Engineering Department, Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, Beijing, 100071, People's Republic of China.
Yanrong
Y
Zhou
Yanli
Y
Lin
Xiaojie
X
Wu
Chong
C
Feng
Chuan
C
Long
Fuyin
F
Xiong
Ning
N
Wang
Dengke
D
Pan
Hongxing
H
Chen
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases / Q000235:genetics*; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D013552:Swine / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; C466741:fat-1 protein, C elegans; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases