Engineering plant fatty acid biosynthesis by chloroplast transformation

• Grant number: 08/00046-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: December 01, 2008
• End date: November 30, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Helaine Carrer
• Grantee: Marcelo Rogalski
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The main sources of oils and fats in the human diet are oilseed crop plants. However, the most fatty acids produced in these major commercial oilseeds comprise low amounts of essential fatty acids such as linoleic acid (LA) and ±-linolenic (ALA), and completely lack from Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty acids (LCPUFAs). LCPUFAs É-3 and É-6 are valuable commodities that are essential in various aspects of human physiological and pathophysiological processes. In the last decades the recommended ratio of dietary É-6 and É-3 fatty acids has shifted heavily toward É-6 fatty acids due to consumption of vegetable oils that are rich in LA. Moreover, É-6 and É-3 fatty acids are not interconvertible in the human body. The ratio of LA/ALA in our diet influences directly the ratio of É-6/É-3 LCPUFAs. The natural sources of LCPUFAs for human health and nutrition are mainly marine fishes. However fish stocks are in severe decline due to decades of overfishing and also most fish oils are contaminated by accumulation of toxic compounds such as heavy metals, dioxins and plasticizers. The conversion of native plant fatty acids LA and ALA to LCPUFAs requires the sequential action of two distinct enzyme families, fatty acid desaturases and elongases. This project aims at the production of É-6/É-3 LCPUFAs in a model plant (Nicotiana tabacum) as well in an important oil crop (Glycine max) by expression of desaturases and elongases via chloroplast transformation, and the development of novel biotechnological tool towards genetic engineering in Elaeis guineensis, a very promising oil crop. In addition, to produce valuable products with sustainable and less environmental aggression by using modern biotechnology strategies that can be applied later in other fields (e.g. industry). Chloroplast genetic engineering offers attractive features as accumulation of high levels of protein and absence of pollen transmission of transgenes due to containment via maternal inheritance.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

TAMBARUSSI, EVANDRO V.; ROGALSKI, MARCELO; GALEANO, ESTEBAN; BRONDANI, GILVANO EBLING; DE MARTIN, VALENTINA DE FATIMA; DA SILVA, LUCAS AMERICO; CARRER, HELAINE. Efficient and new method for Tectona grandis in vitro regeneration. Crop Breeding and Applied Biotechnology, v. 17, n. 2, p. 124-132, APR 2017. (08/00046-2, 13/06299-8, 07/05795-0)

TAMBARUSSI, E. V.; ROGALSKI, M.; NOGUEIRA, F. T. S.; BRONDANI, G. E.; DE MARTIN, V. F.; CARRER, H.. Influence of antibiotics on indirect organogenesis of Teak. ANNALS OF FOREST RESEARCH, v. 58, n. 1, p. 177-183, 2015. (08/00046-2, 07/05795-0)