JXB Advance Access originally published online on January 30, 2004
Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 55, No. 397, pp. 787-789, March 1, 2004
© 2004 Oxford University Press
GENE NOTE |
Isolation and expression pattern of two putative acyl-ACP desaturase cDNAs from Bassia scoparia
Received 15 September 2003; Accepted 25 November 2003
1 Long Ashton Research Station, Long Ashton, Bristol BS41 9AF, UK
2 Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Herts AL5 2JQ, UK
3 Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK
* To whom correspondence should be addressed at Rothamsted. Fax: +44 (0)1582 763010. E-mail: johnathan.napier{at}bbsrc.ac.uk
The seed lipids of some higher plants contain unusual fatty acids with potentially valuable non-food uses. Seeds of Bassia scoparia contain one such monounsaturated fatty acid, 16:1
5. This fatty acid can be used for the production of an insect oviposition pheromone, which is potentially valuable in the control of the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus, a vector of West Nile virus. Previous work has established that a number of unusual monounsaturated fatty acids are produced by variant forms of the ubiquitous acyl-ACP desaturases. The isolation and initial characterization of two putative acyl-ACP desaturases from B. scoparia, one of which is seed-specific, suggests that such a variant enzyme occurs in this species.
Key words: Acyl-ACP desaturase, Bassia scoparia, Culex quinquefasciatus, oviposition pheromone, unusual fatty acid, West Nile virus.