Combined transgenic expression of Δ12-desaturase and Δ12-epoxygenase in high linoleic acid seeds leads to increased accumulation of vernolic acid
Xue-Rong Zhou A B , Surinder Singh A , Qing Liu A and Allan Green AA CSIRO Plant Industry, GPO Box 1600, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Email: Xue-Rong.Zhou@csiro.au
Functional Plant Biology 33(6) 585-592 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP05297
Submitted: 14 December 2005 Accepted: 9 March 2006 Published: 1 June 2006
Abstract
The transgenic production of unusual fatty acids in oil seed crops offers an alternative, renewable resource for industry. However, transgenic expression of genes catalysing the synthesis of unusual fatty acids has generally resulted in these fatty acids accumulating at levels significantly below the levels in the wild species from which the genes were sourced. This study reports expression of additional copies of any of three Δ12-desaturase genes (FAD2) from Crepis palaestina Bornm., cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) or Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. with C. palaestina Δ12-epoxygenase gene (Cpal2), in an Arabidopsis mutant having a significantly higher level of linoleic acid substrate. This resulted in the highest levels of vernolic acid accumulation, 21% of total fatty acids, reported so far in any transgenic plant expressing the Δ12-epoxygenase. Similarly, the co-expression of C. palaestina Cpal2 and a transgenic copy of FAD2 in cotton seed that contains large amounts of linoleic acid substrate also resulted in greater accumulation of vernolic acid in seed than did expression of C. palaestina Cpal2 alone.
Keywords: Cpal2, epoxy fatty acid, FAD2, fatty acid Δ12-desaturase, fatty acid Δ12-epoxygenase, unusual fatty acids, vernolic acid.
Acknowledgments
We thank Diana Hall, Clive Hurlstone and Samantha Chhe for excellent technical assistance, and Andrew Poole and Lorraine Mason for GC analysis. This work was supported in part by BASF Plant Science.
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