MutantΔ8 desaturase genes engineered by targeted mutagenesis and their use in making polyunsaturated fatty acids

摘要

The present invention relates to mutant &Dgr;8 desaturase genes, which have the ability to convert eicosadienoic acid [20:2 ω-6, EDA] to dihomo-γ-linolenic acid [20:3, DGLA] and/or eicosatrienoic acid [20:3 ω-3, ETrA] to eicosatetraenoic acid [20:3 ω-3, ETA]. Isolated nucleic acid fragments and recombinant constructs comprising such fragments encoding &Dgr;8 desaturase along with methods of making long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) using these mutant &Dgr;8 desaturases in plants and oleaginous yeast are disclosed.