Eicosapentainoic Acid (EPA) is long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCPUFA) that is essentially needed by human. EPA itself is required by human as an anti hypertension substances, radical and peroxide scavenger in lipid, and is also to reduce lipid aggregate in lipid tissues (Frenoux et al., 2000). For a year, human required EPA’s needed from dietary. The primary dietary source of EPA is fish and their associated oils. Marine fish have a inefficient EPA biosynthetic, and also depend on the dietary acquisition of these fatty acids to supplement their endogenous synthesis. However, microalgae synthesize EPA with high efficiency. Thus, it is through the consumption of these EPA-rich microalgae that fish accumulate EPA in its body.
There is now growing concern regarding the sustainability of global fish stocks, as a result of decades of overfishing (Wiyono and Alimuddin, 2006). In addition, environmental pollution of our oceans has reduced the quality of fish caused by the accumulation of undesirable chemicals such as dioxins and polychlorinated byphenils (PCBs) (Hites, 2004). On the other hand, for people who live in a remote area, EPA will be hardly consumed because they rarely eat fishes or other sea products. Because of that, fish can’t be a sustainable resource of the EPA quantities required for a healthy nutrition of the growing human population.
A solution to this predicted shortcoming may be realized by implementation of EPA biosynthesis into annual oilseed crop plants. The most common oilseed crop plant which is used in wide variety of diet is palm oil.
The most obvious alternative production of EPA is the use of genetic engineering. Genes encoding EPA biosynthesis is going to be transferred from a microbial source into a palm oil plant by transformation agent. These genes are inserted into a vector thus forming the vector recombinant. Vector recombinant is transferred into the Agrobacterium. Agrobacterium is the transformation agent which infect palm oil callus. Callus will grow become transgenic palm oil plant. Transgenic plants will be generated with the capacity to convert endogenous plant fatty acids into EPA by the action of the introduced microalgae genes.
Abad et al. (2004) has found that linseed can be made to produce EPA by introducing three cDNA which is called into linseed (Linum usitatissimum) Pt∆6, Pt∆5 and PSE1 is encoding fatty acyl ∆6 and ∆5 desaturases and elongase. This resulted in the very high accumulation of ∆6-desaturated C18 fatty acids and up to 5% of C20 polyunsaturated fatty acids, including arachidonic and eicosapentaenoic acid. Detailed lipid analyses of developing seeds from transgenic plants were interpretated as indicating that, after desaturation on phosphatidylcholine, ∆6-desaturated products are immediately channeled to the triacylglycerols and effectively bypass the acyl-CoA pool. Thus, the lack of available ∆6-desaturated acyl-CoA substrates in the acyl-CoA pool limits the synthesis of elongated C20 fatty acids and disrupts the alternating sequence of lipid-linked desaturations and acyl-CoA dependent elongations.
Palm genetic can be engineered also to produce EPA because of two factors. First, palms contain linolenic acid which is the precursor of EPA biosynthesis. Secondly, taxonomic barriers can generally be overcome by transfer gene to palm cell. Latter factor permitting the construction of transgenic palm likes what Abbadi et al. (2004) have done to linseed.
This approach has many obvious advantages for example, it is a long term investation programs. The important point is that since the EPA biosynthesis gene maternally transmitted from one generation to the next. The next generation of palm can be grown and cultivated in conventional farming methods. So, it is simple to bulk and maintain stocks of seeds for such transgenic plants, thus providing a secure and sustainable source of EPA.. Secondly, palm also produce another LCPUFA such as arachidonic acid that plays important role in human body. Finally, since plant derived oils already form a major part of the human diets, it is quite possible to envisage a scenario in which these palm oils are transgenically enhanced to contain EPA, thus providing increased levels of these important fatty acids without change in human diet.
There is now growing concern regarding the sustainability of global fish stocks, as a result of decades of overfishing (Wiyono and Alimuddin, 2006). In addition, environmental pollution of our oceans has reduced the quality of fish caused by the accumulation of undesirable chemicals such as dioxins and polychlorinated byphenils (PCBs) (Hites, 2004). On the other hand, for people who live in a remote area, EPA will be hardly consumed because they rarely eat fishes or other sea products. Because of that, fish can’t be a sustainable resource of the EPA quantities required for a healthy nutrition of the growing human population.
A solution to this predicted shortcoming may be realized by implementation of EPA biosynthesis into annual oilseed crop plants. The most common oilseed crop plant which is used in wide variety of diet is palm oil.
The most obvious alternative production of EPA is the use of genetic engineering. Genes encoding EPA biosynthesis is going to be transferred from a microbial source into a palm oil plant by transformation agent. These genes are inserted into a vector thus forming the vector recombinant. Vector recombinant is transferred into the Agrobacterium. Agrobacterium is the transformation agent which infect palm oil callus. Callus will grow become transgenic palm oil plant. Transgenic plants will be generated with the capacity to convert endogenous plant fatty acids into EPA by the action of the introduced microalgae genes.
Abad et al. (2004) has found that linseed can be made to produce EPA by introducing three cDNA which is called into linseed (Linum usitatissimum) Pt∆6, Pt∆5 and PSE1 is encoding fatty acyl ∆6 and ∆5 desaturases and elongase. This resulted in the very high accumulation of ∆6-desaturated C18 fatty acids and up to 5% of C20 polyunsaturated fatty acids, including arachidonic and eicosapentaenoic acid. Detailed lipid analyses of developing seeds from transgenic plants were interpretated as indicating that, after desaturation on phosphatidylcholine, ∆6-desaturated products are immediately channeled to the triacylglycerols and effectively bypass the acyl-CoA pool. Thus, the lack of available ∆6-desaturated acyl-CoA substrates in the acyl-CoA pool limits the synthesis of elongated C20 fatty acids and disrupts the alternating sequence of lipid-linked desaturations and acyl-CoA dependent elongations.
Palm genetic can be engineered also to produce EPA because of two factors. First, palms contain linolenic acid which is the precursor of EPA biosynthesis. Secondly, taxonomic barriers can generally be overcome by transfer gene to palm cell. Latter factor permitting the construction of transgenic palm likes what Abbadi et al. (2004) have done to linseed.
This approach has many obvious advantages for example, it is a long term investation programs. The important point is that since the EPA biosynthesis gene maternally transmitted from one generation to the next. The next generation of palm can be grown and cultivated in conventional farming methods. So, it is simple to bulk and maintain stocks of seeds for such transgenic plants, thus providing a secure and sustainable source of EPA.. Secondly, palm also produce another LCPUFA such as arachidonic acid that plays important role in human body. Finally, since plant derived oils already form a major part of the human diets, it is quite possible to envisage a scenario in which these palm oils are transgenically enhanced to contain EPA, thus providing increased levels of these important fatty acids without change in human diet.
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