An alternative to fish oils: Metabolic engineering of oil-seed crops to produce omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.

摘要: It is now accepted that omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5Delta5,8,11,14,17) and docosahexaenoic (DHA, 22:6Delta4,7,10,13,16,19) play important roles in a number of aspects human health, with marine fish rich these beneficial acids our primary dietary source. However, over-fishing concerns about pollution the environment indicate need to develop alternative, sustainable sources very long chain (VLC-PUFAs) such as EPA DHA. A different strategies have been considered, one most promising being transgenic plants "reverse-engineered" produce so-called oils. Considerable progress has made towards this goal review we will outline recent achievements demonstrating production VLC-PUFAs plants. We also consider how enriched oils allow development nutritionally-enhanced food products, suitable either for direct ingestion or use an animal feedstuff. In particular, requirements aquaculture act strong driver products. addition, biotechnological research on synthesis provided new insights into complexities acyl-channelling triacylglycerol biosynthesis higher