Delta-8 desaturases and their use in making polyunsaturated fatty acids
Isolated nucleic acid fragments and recombinant constructs comprising such fragments encoding delta-8 desaturases along with a method of making long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and using these delta-8 desaturases in plants.
1. An isolated polynucleotide comprising:
(a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having delta-8 desaturase activity, wherein the polypeptide has at least 90% amino acid identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment, when compared to an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:21, SEQ ID NO:22, SEQ ID NO:23 or SEQ ID NO:24;
(b) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having delta-8 desaturase activity, wherein the nucleotide sequence has at least 90% sequence identity, based on the BLASTN method of alignment, when compared to a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:17, SEQ ID NO:18, SEQ ID NO:19 or SEQ ID NO:20; or
(c) a complement of the nucleotide sequence of (a) or (b), wherein the complement and the nucleotide sequence consist of the same number of nucleotides and are 100% complementary.
2. The polynucleotide of claim 1 , wherein the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide has at least 95% sequence identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment, when compared to SEQ ID NO:21, SEQ ID NO:22, SEQ ID NO:23 or SEQ ID NO:24.
3. The polynucleotide of claim 1 wherein the nucleotide sequence comprises SEQ ID NO:17, SEQ ID NO:18, SEQ ID NO:19 or SEQ ID NO:20.
4. The polynucleotide of claim 1 , wherein the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide comprises SEQ ID NO:21, SEQ ID NO:22, SEQ ID NO:23 or SEQ ID NO:24.
5. A recombinant DNA construct comprising the polynucleotide of claim 1 , 3 , or 4 operably linked to at least one regulatory sequence.
6. A plant cell comprising in its genome the recombinant DNA construct of claim 5 .
7. A method for producing a transformed plant comprising transforming a plant cell with the polynucleotide of claim 1 , 3 , or 4 and regenerating a plant from the transformed plant cell.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the plant is a soybean plant.
9. A transgenic seed comprising in its genome the recombinant construct of claim 5 .
10. A transgenic seed obtained from the plant made by the method of claim 7 .
11. A method for making long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in a plant cell comprising:
(a) transforming a cell with the recombinant construct of claim 5 ; and
(b) selecting those transformed cells that make long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.
12. An oilseed plant comprising in its genome the recombinant construct of claim 5 .
13. Progeny plants obtained from the plant made by the method of claim 7 ; wherein said progeny plants comprise:
(a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having delta-8 desaturase activity, wherein the polypeptide has at least 90% amino acid identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment, when compared to an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:21, SEQ ID NO:22, SEQ ID NO:23 or SEQ ID NO:24;
(b) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having delta-8 desaturase activity, wherein the nucleotide sequence has at least 90% sequence identity, based on the BLASTN method of alignment, when compared to a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:17, SEQ ID NO:18, SEQ ID NO:19 or SEQ ID NO:20; or
(c) a complement of the nucleotide sequence of (a) or (b), wherein the complement and the nucleotide sequence consist of the same number of nucleotides and are 100% complementary.
14. A transgenic seed obtained from the plant made by the method of claim 8 .
15. Progeny plants obtained from the plant made by the method of claim 7 ; wherein said progeny plants comprise:
(a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having delta-8 desaturase activity, wherein the polypeptide has at least 90% amino acid identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment, when compared to an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:21, SEQ ID NO:22, SEQ ID NO:23 or SEQ ID NO:24;
(b) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having delta-8 desaturase activity, wherein the nucleotide sequence has at least 90% sequence identity, based on the BLASTN method of alignment, when compared to a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:17, SEQ ID NO:18, SEQ ID NO:19 or SEQ ID NO:20; or
(c) a complement of the nucleotide sequence of (a) or (b), wherein the complement and the nucleotide sequence consist of the same number of nucleotides and are 100% complementary.