The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology and concerns increasing the tocopherol content of a plant relative to a control plant, comprising expressing in a plant at least one polynucleotide encoding a delta-12-desaturase, at least one polynucleotide encoding a delta-6-desaturase, at least one polynucleotide encoding a delta-6-elongase, and at least one polynucleotide encoding a delta-5-desaturase. The present invention also relates to methods for the manufacture of oil, fatty acid- or lipids-containing compositions, and to such oils and lipids as such.

It relates to w-3 fatty acid desaturase for the synthesis of pufas from phytophthora parasitica, a plasmid containing the same, a recombinant microorganism containing the plasmid and its application. The invention also provides the use of the above ?-3 fatty acid desaturase in the biosynthesis of PUFAs, especially to catalyze C20:4.sup.?5,8,11,14 to C20:5.sup.?5,8,11,14,17 at normal temperature, with catalytic efficiency 65%. The recombinant strain reached 31.5% of the total fatty acid, and the conversion rate to AA was up to 77.6%,

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 of producing lipids, containing the steps of: culturing an alga belonging to the genus Nannochloropsis; and producing fatty acids or lipids containing the same as components;
wherein expressions of genes encoding a 12-desaturase and a 6-desaturase are enhanced in the alga; and a transformant of an alga belonging to the genus Nannochloropsis, wherein expressions of genes encoding a 12-desaturease and a 6-desaturease are enhanced.

Provided herein are engineered microorganisms comprising one or more genes involved in fatty acid metabolism. For example, provided is an engineered microorganism comprising a first nucleic acid sequence encoding an elongase and a second nucleic acid sequence encoding a desaturase, wherein the first and second nucleic acid sequences are operably linked to promoter. Also provided are methods of making and using the engineered microorganisms. Also provided are microbial oils comprising fatty acids, wherein the fatty acids comprise C20:3(n-6) (di-homo-?-linoleic acid) and C20:5(n-3) eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). In addition, provided herein are methods of promoting conversion of saturated fatty acids to unsaturated fatty acids by transforming microorganisms with nucleic acid encoding polypeptides involved in the fatty acid synthesis pathway to generated increased conversion of saturated fatty acids to unsaturated fatty acids.

A microbial oil is obtained from Labyrinthulomycetes in which a gene for fatty acid biosynthesis has been disrupted or an expression of the gene has been inhibited to highly accumulate the fatty acid. The microbial oil typically contains: (a) 1.5% or more of arachidonic acid (AA) based on a total amount of fatty acid; (b) 0.2% or more of dihomo-?-linolenic acid (DGLA) based on the total amount of fatty acid; (c) 0.04% or more of eicosatetraenoic acid (ETA) based on the total amount of fatty acid; (d) 3.8% or more of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) based on the total amount of fatty acid; (e) 13.7% or less of n-6 docosapentaenoic acid (n-6DPA) based on the total amount of fatty acid; and (f) 43.9% or less of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) based on the total amount of fatty acid.

The present invention relates to improved recombinant plants or plant cells for producing omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids such as eicospentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The invention further relates to the oil produced by said recombinant oilseed plant or cell.

Isolated nucleotide sequences mutated by insertion encoding a truncated sunflower oleate desaturase protein, truncated protein, methods, procedures and uses. The isolated nucleotide sequences comprise an insertion that includes a stop codon, and wherein the sequences encode a truncated sunflower oleate desaturase protein. The truncated sunflower oleate desaturase protein may be for example the sequence shown in SEQ ID No: 1 or SEQ ID No: 2.

The present invention relates to Brassica plants comprising mutant FAD2 genes, FAD2 nucleic acid sequences and proteins, as well as methods for generating and identifying said plants and alleles, which can be used to plants with increased levels of C18:1 in the seed oil. The invention further relates to combining the mutant FAD2 alleles with mutant FAD3 alleles to increase the levels of C18:1 and reduce the levels of C18:3 in the seed oil.

The present invention relates to yeast cells capable of producing ?(12) desaturated fatty acyl-CoAs and optionally fatty alcohols, said yeast cells expressing heterologous ?(12) desaturases capable of introducing a double bond at position (12), i. e. a double bond between the carbon at position (12) and the carbon at position (13), in a saturated or desaturated fatty acyl-CoA having a carbon chain length of at least (13).