?17 DESATURASES AND THEIR USE IN MAKING POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS

摘要

The present invention relates to delta17 desaturases, which have the ability to convert omega-6 fatty acids into their omega-3 counterparts (i.e., conversion of arachidonic acid [20:4, ARA] to eicosapentaenoic acid [20:5, EPA]). Isolated nucleic acid fragments and recombinant constructs comprising such fragments encoding delta17 desaturases along with a method of making long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) using these delta17 desaturases in plants and oleaginous yeast is disclosed.