High Erucid Acid

Increase of erucic acid content in oilseed rape
Erucic acid (22:1) is a valuable renewable resource which has several potential
applications in the industrial production of e.g. plastics, lumbricants, slip and coating
agents, soaps, printing inks, additives, surfactants and. High erucic acid rapeseed (HEAR) is currently cultivated at around 55.000 ha in Europe and at around 27.000 ha in Germany. The erucic acid content of presently cultivated HEAR varieties like 'Maplus' and 'Maruca' is about 50%. Besides erucic acid, the oil consists mainly of oleic acid (18:1), linoleic acid (18:2), linolenic acid (18:3) and eicosenoic acid (20:1).

The aim of the performed research work is to increase the erucic acid content by pursuing several approaches. High erucic acid genotypes with reduced polyenoic fatty acid content have been crossed to transgenic high erucic acid genotypes expressing the LdLPAAT-gene and the BnFAE1-gene under control of the napin promotor and among the offsprings recombinants with an erucic acid content of 72% have been identified (Nath et al. 2009). Current research is related to study the effects of the high erucic acid content on seed metabolism and on the content of other secondary compounds synthesized in the cytoplasm.

Sasongko ND, Möllers C (2005) Towards increasing erucic acid content in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) through the combination with genes for high oleic acid. J Am Oil Chem Soc 82:445-449
Nath UK, Goswani G, Clemens R, Becker HC, Möllers C (2009) Inheritance and variation of erucic acid content in a transgenic rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) doubled haploid population. Molecular Breeding 23:125-138
Nath, UK, Wilmer JA, Wallington EJ, Becker HC, Möllers C (2009) Increasing erucic acid content through combination of endogenous low polyunsaturated fatty acids alleles with Ld-LPAAT + Bn-fae 1 transgenes in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). Theor Appl Genet 118:765-773