Effect of Heterologous Δ9-Desaturase Expression on Fatty Acid Composition of Tomato Plants

In this work, the authors investigated the possibility of modifying the fatty acid (FA) composition of tomato leaves (Solanum lycopersicum L.) by introducing into its genome the gene of the cyanobacterial Δ9 acyl-lipid desaturase (Synechococcus vulcanus C.). To obtain transgenic tomato plants expressing cyanobacterial desaturase (desC) and to evaluate the effect of this desaturase on the FA composition of total lipids, vectors carrying the gene desC were constructed. The gene sequence was fused with leader sequences that ensure localization of the protein product in chloroplasts, endoplasmic reticulum (ER), or cytoplasmic membrane. The resulting vectors were used to transform the A. tumefaciens AGL0 strain for subsequent agrobacterium-mediated transformation of tomato plants. FA analysis of leaves showed that, when desC is localized in the cytoplasmic membrane or ER membrane, an increase in the content of C16:1 and C16:2 fatty acids is observed for some lines. For these lines, an increase in the relative representation of the transcript desC compared to transgenic lines that did not show changes in FA composition is shown. The obtained data can be used to develop strategies for targeted modification of the fatty acid composition of tomatoes.