Prof Johnathan Napier - Fish oils and seeds for healthy foods
Duration: 47 mins 57 secs
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| Description: |
Omega-3 fatty acids - obtained from fish oils - are vital for human health, but there is no sustainable production system in place for them. Fisheries are not run sustainably, and the marine environment is suffering from pollution which can accumulate in fish. Unfortunately, popular plant oils such as flax and linseed lack the bioactive omega-3 fatty acids that humans need. We need an alternative and sustainable source of these important compounds to tackle the health issues of the 21st century.
Prof Johnathan Napier works at Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire, a government-funded insitution and the oldest agricultural research station in the world. He and his group have been working to engineer transgenic plants to accumulate omega-3 fatty acids. |
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| Created: | 2015-03-17 16:41 |
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| Collection: | The Gatsby Plant Science Summer School Lecture Collection |
| Publisher: | University of Cambridge |
| Copyright: | Prof Johnathan Napier |
| Language: | eng (English) |
| Distribution: |
World
(not downloadable)
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| Categories: |
iTunes - Science - Biology iTunes - Science - Agriculture iTunes - Science - Environment iTunes - Science - Ecology |
| Explicit content: | No |
| Aspect Ratio: | 4:3 |
| Screencast: | No |
| Bumper: | UCS Default |
| Trailer: | UCS Default |
| Abstract: | Omega-3 fatty acids - obtained from fish oils - are vital for human health, but there is no sustainable production system in place for them. Fisheries are not run sustainably, and the marine environment is suffering from pollution which can accumulate in fish. Unfortunately, popular plant oils such as flax and linseed lack the bioactive omega-3 fatty acids that humans need. We need an alternative and sustainable source of these important compounds to tackle the health issues of the 21st century.
Prof Johnathan Napier works at Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire, a government-funded insitution and the oldest agricultural research station in the world. He and his group have been working to engineer transgenic plants to accumulate omega-3 fatty acids. The primary producers of these long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) are algae, which are taken up by the wild fish in the food chain. Johnathan has now engineered both model plants and crop species with the algal biosynthetic pathway for LC-PUFAs. Using lipidomics, the researchers identified metabolic bottlenecks in the transgenic pathway, ultimately resulting in the breakhrough production of a transgenic oilseed crop which contains up to 30% omega-3 LC-PUFAs in its seed oil. |
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