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Isolation of DNAs for novel fatty acid desaturase enzymes and their use to manipulate fatty acid and triglycerol composition in transgenic plants

Reference	BBS/E/C/00004156
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Johnathan Napier
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Rothamsted Research Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	2,379,821
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/1999
End date	31/03/2008
Duration	108 months

Abstract

The aim of this project is the production of very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in transgenic plants. These fatty acids have recently been demonstrated to play vital roles in aspects of human neonatal development and, as such, are good candidates as pharmaceutical interventions. However, very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are not synthesised by any conventional oil seed crop species, limiting the development and deployment of these compounds. We have, therefore, sought candidate genes for this biosynthetic pathway from a number of different organisms. In particular, we have exploited the completed C. elegans genome sequence as a source of genes. These candidate genes have then been functionally characterised, allowing unambiguous identification. These components of polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthetic pathway can then be co-expressed in a heterologous host to reconstitute this metabolic stream.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Plant & Microbial Sciences (PMS)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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