Biologia plantarum 2014, 58:348-354 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-014-0406-9

Transgenic barley producing essential polyunsaturated fatty acids

D. Mihálik1,*, M. Gubišová1, T. Klempová2, M. Čertík2, K. Ondreičková1, M. Hudcovicová1, L. Klčová1, J. Gubiš1, I. Dokupilová1,2, L. Ohnoutková1, J. Kraic1
1 Plant Production Research Center, Piešťany, Slovak Republic
2 Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) affect diverse physiological processes and human health. Most cereals are poor in n-3 and n-6 PUFAs. Using biolistics, barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Golden Promise) was transformed with an artificial gene encoding Δ6-desaturase (D6D) under an endosperm-specific promoter. This artificial gene was designed from the sequence of D6D of the filamentous fungus Thamnidium elegans, but codon usage was optimised for cereals. A signal sequence from the gene encoding for high molecular mass glutenin Dx5 was added to a destinate mature protein. Successful transformation was confirmed in T0 plants at the genomic level and in T1 seeds at the transcriptomic and metabolomic levels. Transformed plants produced up to 0.141 % of γ-linolenic acid (GLA) and 0.294 % of stearidonic acid (SDA) of the total amount of fatty acids in their grains. Although the content of these fatty acids was relatively low, the current study provides the first evidence that transgenic barley can be a source of GLA/SDA.

Keywords: biolistic transformation; Δ6-desaturase; γ-linolenic acid; Hordeum vulgare; stearidonic acid
Subjects: transgenic plants; polyunsaturated fatty acids; biolistic transformation; barley
Species: Hordeum vulgare

Received: April 8, 2013; Revised: September 5, 2013; Accepted: September 16, 2013; Published: June 1, 2014Show citation

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Mihálik, D., Gubišová, M., Klempová, T., Čertík, M., Ondreičková, K., Hudcovicová, M., ... Kraic, J. (2014). Transgenic barley producing essential polyunsaturated fatty acids. Biologia plantarum, 58(2), 348-354. doi: 10.1007/s10535-014-0406-9.
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