DELTA 6 DESATURASES AND THEIR USE IN MAKING POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS

摘要

The present invention relates to &Dgr;6 desaturases, which have the ability to convert linoleic acid [“LA”; 18:2 ω-6] to γ-linolenic acid [“GLA”; 18:3 ω-6] and/or α-linolenic acid [“ALA”; 18:3 ω-3] to stearidonic acid [“STA”; 18:4 ω-3]. Isolated nucleic acid fragments and recombinant constructs comprising such fragments encoding &Dgr;6 desaturases, along with methods of making long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids [“PUFAs”] using these &Dgr;6 desaturases in oleaginous yeast, are disclosed.