The present invention relates generally to the field of recombinant fatty acid synthesis, particularly in transgenic plants. The application describes genes involved in fatty acid synthesis and provides methods and vectors for the manipulation of fatty acid composition of plant oils. In particular, the invention provides constructs for achieving the integration of multiple heterologous genes involved in fatty acid synthesis into the plant genome, such that the resulting plants produce altered levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Also described are methods for enhancing the expression of fatty acid biosynthesis enzymes by co-expressing a silencing suppressor within the plant storage organ.

The disclosure relates to fatty diols and recombinant microorganisms for producing them. More particularly, the disclosure relates to recombinant microorganisms engineered to produce fatty diols via fermentation. Further encompassed is a process that uses the microorganisms to produce fatty diols from a simple carbon source.

The present disclosure provides genetically modified host cells that produce a cannabinoid, a cannabinoid derivative, a cannabinoid precursor, or a cannabinoid precursor derivative. The present disclosure provides methods of synthesizing a cannabinoid, a cannabinoid derivative, a cannabinoid precursor, or a cannabinoid precursor derivative.

The technology relates in part to biological methods for modifying carbon flux in cells, engineered cells and organisms in which cellular carbon flux has been modified, and methods of using engineered cells and organisms for production of organic molecules.

Recombinant microbial cells comprising an engineered LCDA production pathway that comprises at least one up-regulated long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase (ACoS) are disclosed. These recombinant microbial cells are capable of producing one or more long-chain dicarboxylic acid (LCDA) products from a long-chain fatty acid-comprising substrate. Methods of using recombinant microbial cells to produce LCDAs are also disclosed.

The present disclosure provides genetically modified host cells that produce a cannabinoid, a cannabinoid derivative, a cannabinoid precursor, or a cannabinoid precursor derivative. The present disclosure provides methods of synthesizing a cannabinoid, a cannabinoid derivative, a cannabinoid precursor, or a cannabinoid precursor derivative.

A method of producing a polyunsaturated fatty acid in a transgenic bacterium, includes: introducing a recombinant plasmid into a bacteria cell to obtain the transgenic bacterium, wherein the recombinant plasmid comprises a polynucleotide encoding one or more elongase and one or more desaturase; incubating the transgenic bacterium in a medium containing a fatty acid substrate; harvesting the transgenic bacterium, and extracting the polyunsaturated fatty acid from the transgenic bacterium. A method of converting linoleic acid to arachidonic acid and a cassette and recombinant plasmid comprising nucleic acid sequences for the above methods are also provided.

The invention provides isolated nucleic acid molecules which encode novel fatty acid desaturases and elongases from the organism Emiliana huxleyi. The invention also provides recombinant expression vectors containing desaturase or elongase nucleic acid molecules, host cells into which the expression vectors have been introduced, and methods for large-scale production of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs), e.g. arachidonic acid (ARA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

A method for producing a microbial oil includes steps of: genetically modifying a labyrinthulid by disrupting and/or silencing a gene, or by transforming another gene in addition to the disruption and/or gene silencing of the gene, and culturing the labyrinthulid, such that a fatty acid composition accumulated in the labyrinthulid comprises an increased EPA content; and collecting the microbial oil having the increased EPA content from the labyrinthulid. The labyrinthulid before the modification is selected from (A) a labyrinthulid belonging to the genus Parietichytrium or genus Schizochytrium and having very weak or no activity of producing PUFAs via a PUFA-PKS pathway; and (B) a labyrinthulid belonging to the genus Thraustochytrium in which a host PUFA-PKS gene is disrupted or silenced to a very weak level. The increased EPA content is preferably not less than 11.5% of a total fatty acid composition.

Assay method, comprising providing a plant capable of expressing a delta-12 desaturase, wherein said delta-12 desaturase has at least 50% total amino acid sequence identity to at least one of the sequences SEQ ID NO. 328 to 336, and/or at least 59% total amino acid sequence similarity to at least one of the sequences SEQ ID NO. 328 to 336, and wherein the plant is also capable of expressing at least one or more enzymes of unsaturated fatty acid metabolism, of which enzymes at least one is capable of using linoleic acid as a substrate, and of which enzymes at least one is supposedly connected to a plant metabolic property, growing the plant, and measuring said plant metabolic property for said plant.