Heterologous Reconstitution of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Arabidopsis

Reconstitution of nonnative, very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (VLC-PUFA) biosynthetic pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana was undertaken. The introduction of three primary biosynthetic activities to cells requires the stable coexpression of multiple proteins within the same cell. Herein, we report that C(22) VLC-PUFAs were synthesized from C(18) precursors by reactions catalyzed by Δ(6)-desaturase, an ELOVL5-like enzyme involved in VLC-PUFA elongation, and Δ(5)-desaturase. Coexpression of the corresponding genes (McD6DES, AsELOVL5, and PtD5DES) under the control of the seed-specific vicilin promoter resulted in production of docosapentaenoic acid (22:5 n-3) and docosatetraenoic acid (22:4 n-6) as well as eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5 n-3) and arachidonic acid (20:4 n-6) in Arabidopsis seeds. The contributions of the transgenic enzymes and endogenous fatty acid metabolism were determined. Specifically, the reasonable synthesis of omega-3 stearidonic acid (18:4 n-3) could be a useful tool to obtain a sustainable system for the production of omega-3 fatty acids in seeds of a transgenic T3 line 63-1. The results indicated that coexpression of the three proteins was stable. Therefore, this study suggests that metabolic engineering of oilseed crops to produce VLC-PUFAs is feasible.