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- Title
Transgenic mice: Fat-1 mice convert n-6 to n-3 fatty acids.
- Authors
Kang, Jing X.; Wang, Jingdong; Wu, Lin; Kang, Zhao B.
- Abstract
Mammals cannot naturally produce omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids - beneficial nutrients found mainly in fish oil - from the more abundant omega-6 (n-6) fatty acids and so they must rely on a dietary supply. Here we show that mice engineered to carry a fat-1 gene from the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans can add a double bond into an unsaturated fatty-acid hydrocarbon chain and convert n-6 to n-3 fatty acids. This results in an abundance of n-3 and a reduction in n-6 fatty acids in the organs and tissues of these mice, in the absence of dietary n-3. As well as presenting an opportunity to investigate the roles played by n-3 fatty acids in the body, our discovery indicates that this technology might be adapted to enrich n-3 fatty acids in animal products such as meat, milk and eggs.
- Subjects
TRANSGENIC mice; FATTY acids; OMEGA-3 fatty acids; OMEGA-6 fatty acids; CAENORHABDITIS elegans; HYDROCARBONS
- Publication
Nature, 2004, Vol 427, Issue 6974, p504
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/427504a