Napier J A, Michaelson L V, Stobart A K
IACR-Long Ashton Research Station, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bristol, Long Ashton, Bristol, BS41 9AF, UK.
Curr Opin Plant Biol. 1999 Apr;2(2):123-7. doi: 10.1016/s1369-5266(99)80025-9.
The past few years have witnessed a major upsurge in research towards the goal of modifying the lipid composition of plants. Genes encoding a range of different fatty acid desaturase activities have been cloned, and the evolutionary relationships between and within different classes of enzymes have tentatively been established. The effects of expressing some of these desaturases in heterologous hosts have also been studied, often producing unexpected results which contribute further to our understanding of plant lipid modification. It is to be hoped that, in the near future, the goal of producing unusual and valuable fatty acids in transgenic oilseeds will be achieved on a commercial scale.
在过去几年中，针对改变植物脂质成分这一目标的研究出现了大幅增长。编码一系列不同脂肪酸去饱和酶活性的基因已被克隆，并且不同类别酶之间以及酶内部的进化关系也已初步确立。在异源宿主中表达其中一些去饱和酶的效果也已得到研究，这些研究常常产生意想不到的结果，进一步增进了我们对植物脂质修饰的理解。希望在不久的将来，在转基因油籽中生产异常且有价值的脂肪酸这一目标能够在商业规模上得以实现。
