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Development of high oleic oil crop platform in flax through RNAi-mediated multiple FAD2 gene silencing

Plant Cell Reports volume 34, pages 643–653 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Key message

Simultaneous gene silencing of both FAD2 genes in high linoleic acid flax leads to high level of oleic acid, which is stable across multiple generations.

Abstract

High oleic oil is one of the preferred traits in oil crop engineering due to its stability and multiple applications as an industrial feedstock. Flax possesses two isoforms of FAD2 enzymes that desaturate monounsaturated oleic acid to polyunsaturated linoleic acid. These two enzymes are encoded by two FAD2 genes. By simultaneous gene silencing both FAD2 genes in high linoleic acid flax, Linola, high level of oleic acid up to 80 % was achieved in 69 silencing lines. The high oleic trait was stable across multiple generations with oleic acid reaching up to 77 % in homozygote T3 progeny. The RNAi-mediated gene-silencing approach generated high oleic linseed oil, as well as a high oleic platform that can be exploited for further fatty acid engineering.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Drs. Qing Liu and Pushkar Shrestha for critical reading, Greg Lawrence for genomic DNA of Ward and Forge, Shelley Eftoda and Andrea Beaudry of Viterra for technical assistance in producing and managing the transgenic lines, Kim Fieber of Viterra for GC analysis of fatty acid profile, Susan McEachern of Viterra for greenhouse logistic support, and Diana Hall, Luch Hac, Geraldine Lester, Clive Hurlstone, Mellissa Lai, Cheryl Blundell, Debbie Solomen and Bei Dong at CSIRO Plant Industry for technical assistance.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Yurong Chen

    Present address: Monsanto Company, Agracetus Campus, 8520 University Green, P O Box 620999, Middleton, WI, 53562, USA

  2. Paul Dribnenki

    Present address: Dribnenki Consulting, 5901-46A Street, Vegreville, AB, T9C 1V4, Canada

Affiliations

  1. Viterra, PO Bag 4000, Vegreville, AB, T9C 1T4, Canada

    Yurong Chen & Paul Dribnenki

  2. CSIRO Food, Nutrition and Bio-products Flagship, Black Mountain Laboratories, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Xue-Rong Zhou, Zhi-Jun Zhang, Surinder Singh & Allan Green

  3. CSIRO Agriculture Flagship, Black Mountain Laboratories, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Xue-Rong Zhou & Surinder Singh

  4. Department of Life Science, School of Chemical Engineering and Environment, North University of China, Taiyuan, 030051, China

    Zhi-Jun Zhang

Authors
  1. Yurong Chen
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  2. Xue-Rong Zhou
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  3. Zhi-Jun Zhang
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  4. Paul Dribnenki
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  5. Surinder Singh
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  6. Allan Green
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xue-Rong Zhou.

Additional information

Y. Chen and X.-R. Zhou contributed equally to this work.

Communicated by M. C. Suh.

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Chen, Y., Zhou, XR., Zhang, ZJ. et al. Development of high oleic oil crop platform in flax through RNAi-mediated multiple FAD2 gene silencing. Plant Cell Rep 34, 643–653 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-015-1737-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-015-1737-5

Keywords

  • Flax
  • High oleic
  • RNAi silencing
  • FAD2