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The researchers transferred the genes into Arabidopsis - a plant often used as a model by scientists because of its short life cycle and well understood genetics - and produced plants containing significant levels of either epoxy or acetylenic fatty acids in their seeds.

"We now need to incorporate other genes which will help the plants produce higher concentrations of these compounds. We have a good indication of the enzymes that are needed, and potentially useful genes are already available for some of these," said Dr Stymne.

"The genes we identified come from wild plants not suitable for farming because of their characteristics such as low yields, so we are introducing these genes into oilseed plants," Dr Green said. "This could ultimately be a real opportunity for farmers."

"In the future, farmers can look forward to receiving much higher returns for growing these specialty crops, as the value of epoxy oils is almost three times that of ordinary vegetable oils."

This research has revealed a family of enzymes that perform a range of chemical modifications to fatty acids. This knowledge should enable the team to isolate other genes from the family and further expand the types of oils produced in plants.

"Our aim is to be able to design these enzymes to produce fatty acids tailored to specific end product uses. Such fatty acids may be novel ones that don't exist in nature, allowing us to produce entirely new products," said Dr Green, who added that there is still substantial work to be done before plants producing high levels of these fatty acids are widely available.

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Contact: Dr Allan Green
Allan.Green@pi.csiro.au
61-2-6246 5154
CSIRO Australia
18-May-1998