Production of unsaturated fatty acids, useful e.g. in nutrition, cosmetics or pharmaceuticals, in organisms transformed with Physcomitrella patens delta-6-desaturase nucleic acid

摘要

Preparation of unsaturated fatty acids (I) by introducing into an organism at least one isolated nucleic acid (II) that encodes a polypeptide (III) with DELTA 6-desaturase activity, is new. Preparation of unsaturated fatty acids (I) by introducing into an organism at least one isolated nucleic acid (II) that encodes a polypeptide (III) with DELTA 6-desaturase activity, is new. Organisms that contain at least 1 wt.% (I), on total fatty acid content, are then selected. (II) is selected from: (a) a 2012 bp sequence (S1), defined in the specification, or its equivalents within the degeneracy of the genetic code; or (b) derivatives of the sequence of (a) that encode a 525 amino acid polypeptide (S2), defined in the specification, or a polypeptide with at least 50% homology with (S2) and practically the same enzymatic activity. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) transgenic organisms that contain (II); and (2) oils, lipids and fatty acids produced by the new method.