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Significance The dietary and oleochemical value of vegetable oils is determined by their component fatty acids. Double bonds or “unsaturation” in fatty acids are critical for vegetable oil functionality. Seeds… Click to show full abstract
Significance The dietary and oleochemical value of vegetable oils is determined by their component fatty acids. Double bonds or “unsaturation” in fatty acids are critical for vegetable oil functionality. Seeds containing vegetable oils with extremely high levels of a single fatty acid have provided insights into enzyme-substrate recognition and metabolic plasticity and genes for biotechnological improvement of oilseeds. We report the discovery of species with seed oils containing >90% of an unusual monounsaturated fatty acid. We identified the variant enzyme that produces this fatty acid and elucidated its three-dimensional structure. We used this information to develop enzymes that produce nonnaturally occurring monounsaturated fatty acids and sourced genes from these species to engineer oilseeds and bacteria for modified fatty acid compositions.
Journal Title: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Year Published: 2022
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