Oil composition

At present, two molecular strategies can be used to modify oil composition and content:

1. alteration of the major fatty acid level by suppressing or over-expressing a specific key enzyme in lipid biosynthesis
2. creation of an unusual fatty acid.

By anti-sense suppression or co-suppression of oleate desaturase it is possible to increase oleic acid (C18:1) by more than three-fold (from 24% to 80%) in the oil of transgenic soybean. The same strategy was adopted to increase stearate (C18:0) by up to 30% both in canola and soybean oils. Unusual fatty acids can be produced in a plant by transferring a gene encoding the specific biosynthetic enzyme. An example can be seen in canola which naturally does not produce laurate (C12:0), while a new transgenic genotype does contain laurate. The oil content of some nut crops used for cosmetics, such as almond, could be increased or their composition could be modified by these techniques.