植物脂肪酸代谢途径遗传调控的研究进展

Advance in Genetic Manipulation of Fatty Acid Metabolic Pathway in Plants

目前,利用传统育种方法改良油料作物脂肪酸组分已取得巨大成功,通过有性杂交、X-射线或EMS处理等方法都可用来修饰存在于油菜中脂肪酸的性质。国外已培育出高棕榈酸、高或低亚油酸、高油酸和无芥酸的油菜品种。但由于油料作物基因池(Gene Pool)的局限性使得育种学家不得不寻找其他种质资源。随着基因克隆和遗传转化技术的进步,通过基因工程改良油料作物品质已成可能。本文主要介绍了植物脂肪酸的代谢途径以及通过操纵TAG的生物合成来改变油的成分等研究,其中主要包括脂肪酸链长度的改良、饱和度改良、增加脂肪酸含量以及新的不饱和脂肪酸的改良等方面。不久的将来,转基因油料作物中将会产生更有价值的脂肪酸造福于人类。

Using the traditional breeding methods to change the fatty acid composition in oil crops can now be considered as a proven technique. Sexual hybridization and other techniques such as X-irradiation and ethyl methanesufonate （EMS） treatment can modify the properties of fatty acids that exist in the Brassica species. It has allowed the production of rapeseed lines with high palmitic acid content, high or low content of linoleic acid and high oleic acid, and also rapeseed without erucic acid. Nevertheless, limitations in the rapeseed gene pool have caused plant breeders to search for alternative sources of other commercially interesting fatty adds. The development of the new gene cloning and genetic transformation technologies for genetic modification in the past two decades has opened the possibility of engineering a wide range of new oil qualities in rapeseed. Metabolic pathway of fatty acid in plant and changes in oil components through manipulating biosynthesis of TAG were reviewed in this article. These changes mainly include the modification of chain length, the alteration of saturation, increase of fatty acids content and the melioration of the new mono- and poly- unsaturated fatty adds. Genetically-modified oil crops will produce more valuable fatty acids to satisfy the human needs in the future.