Identification of an animal omega-3 fatty acid desaturase by heterologous expression in Arabidopsis.

ABSTRACT: In animals, fatty acid desaturases catalyze key reactions in the synthesis of arachidonic acid and other polyunsaturated fatty acids. A search of the Caenorhabditis elegans DNA databases, using the sequences of Arabidopsis genes, identified several putative desaturases. Here we describe the characterization of the first of these genes, fat-1. The predicted protein encoded by a fat-1 cDNA showed 32-35% identity with both FAD2 and FAD3 of Arabidopsis. When expressed in transgenic plants, fat-1 resulted in a 90% increase in the proportion of alpha-linolenic acid in root lipids. Wild-type Arabidopsis incorporated omega-6 fatty acids (delta8,11,14-20:3 and delta5,8,11,14-20:4) into membrane lipids but did not desaturate them. By contrast, fat-1 transgenic plants efficiently desaturated both of

SUBMITTER: Spychalla JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC19758 | biostudies-literature | 1997 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature