Surinder Singh, James Petrie and Malcolm Devine
CSIRO Food, Nutrition and Bioproducts Flagship, ACT, Australia
Omega-3 long-chain (≥C20) polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3 LC-PUFA) like EPA and DHA have critical roles in human health and development with numerous studies indicating that deficiencies in these fatty acids can increase the risk or severity of cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases in particular. These fatty acids are predominantly sourced from fish and algal oils. In order to meet the increasing demand for these oils there is an urgent need for an alternative, safe and sustainable source of EPA and DHA. Over the last 10 years, we have focused on the production of ?3 LC-PUFA in oilseeds. In particular, we have had world leading success in engineering the synthesis of DHA in oilseeds. My talk will describe the transition of DHA production in seed of our model species Arabidopsis through to camelina and our target crop canola. DHA levels that exceed the amount typically found in bulk fish oil have now been achieved in all three species and involved transfer of a 7 gene algal pathway into oilseed crops. The talk will describe gene isolation and characterisation, design and assembly of complex multi-gene expression vectors harbouring a high efficiency ω3 LC-PUFA synthesis pathway and transgenic seed oil fatty acid profiles.