Abstract
Long chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20 : 5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22 : 6n-3) are considered desirable in human diets because they can lower the risk of lifestyle-related diseases such as coronary artery disease, cancer and inflammatory diseases. However, recent Western diets are greasy and contain fats rich in saturated fatty acids derived from animal meats, pork and beef. Foods derived from fish, sea animals such as earless seal and specific seed oils, flax and perilla, are rich in n-3PUFA, and are recommended to be ingested. Domestic pigs and cattle cannot synthesize the unsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic acid (18 : 2n-6) and α-linolenic acid (18 : 3n-3) because mammals lack the genes for n-6 and ω-3 fatty acid desaturases. We have demonstrated that a plant gene for Δ12 fatty acid desaturase can function in transgenic pigs. Therefore, enhancement of level of n-3PUFAs in animal meats could be performed by introducing plant-derived gene for ω-3 fatty acid desaturase into domestic animals. Here we discuss our recent work for producing transgenic livestock that de-novo synthesize and stored n-3PUFAs using the transgenic technology.
