title: Production of transgenic beef cattle rich in n-3 PUFAs by somatic cell nuclear transfer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) are beneficial to human health. However, the n-3 PUFAs contents of the livestock meat that we consume daily are relatively low. Utilization of transgenic technology to increase n-3 PUFAs contents in livestock may solve this problem.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The omega-3 fatty acid desaturase (FAD3), encoded by fat1 gene derived from Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), converts omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-6 PUFAs) to n-3 PUFAs. In the study, a plasmid containing the codon-optimized C. elegans fat1 gene (mfat1) was constructed and used to produce transgenic beef cattle by somatic cell nuclear transfer. Fourteen transgenic calves were obtained, and the ratio of n-6 to n-3 PUFAs in the transgenic calves decreased from 5.33: 1 to 0.95: 1 compared with negative controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrated that the codon-optimized C. elegans mfat1 gene can be functionally expressed in the beef cattle and converts n-6 PUFAs to n-3 PUFAs.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China, cg4455@126.com.
authors.forename: Gong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Changzhen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Adoligbe
authors.forename: Shengjuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Shijun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Bijie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Hongbao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Linsen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D002417:Cattle; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D010957:Plasmids; D000069466:Red Meat
chemical_list: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3