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Metabolic engineering to produce γ-linolenic acid in Brassica napus using a Δ6-desaturase from pike eel

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Abstract

We generated γ-linolenic acid (GLA, C18:3Δ6,9,12)-producing transgenic Brassica napus transformed with McD6DES, the Δ6-desaturase gene identified from pike eel (Muraenesox cinereus) under the control of the seed-specific vicilin promoter. Seed-specific expression of McD6DES in B. napus produced up to 8.4% of GLA by creating a double bond at the sixth position from the carboxyl end of linoleic acid (LA, C18:2Δ9,12) in seeds. These results demonstrate that McD6DES expression enables to reconstitute in polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthetic pathways, highlighting the potential of GLA biosynthesis as a target for metabolic engineering of oilseed crops.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Agricultural Science (PJ01007501), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, National Institute of Agricultural Science, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju, 54874, Republic of Korea

    Sun Hee Kim, Kyung Hee Roh, Kyeong-Ryeol Lee, Han-Chul Kang & Jong Bum Kim

  2. Department of Bioindustry and Bioresource Engineering, Plant Engineering Research Institute, Sejong University, Seoul, 05006, Republic of Korea

    Hyun Uk Kim

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  1. Sun Hee Kim
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  2. Kyung Hee Roh
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  3. Kyeong-Ryeol Lee
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  4. Han-Chul Kang
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Correspondence to Hyun Uk Kim or Jong Bum Kim.

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Kim, S.H., Roh, K.H., Lee, KR. et al. Metabolic engineering to produce γ-linolenic acid in Brassica napus using a Δ6-desaturase from pike eel. Plant Biotechnol Rep 10, 475–481 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-016-0415-6

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