ИСТИНА

To obtain transgenic tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum) expressing gene for Δ9 acyl-lipid desaturase (desC) of cyanobacteria and to evaluate the effect of heterologous desaturase expression on the fatty acid (FA) composition of total lipids, vectors carrying the desC gene were constructed. The gene sequence was fused with the leader sequences providing localization of the protein product in chloroplasts, ER or cytoplasmic membrane. FA analysis of transgenic plants showed that when Δ9 acyl-lipid desaturase is localized in the cytoplasmic membrane and ER, the content of Δ9- monounsaturated fatty acids is increased. In the case of localization in the cytoplasmic membrane, an increase in both C18:1- and C16:1-acids were noted. In the case of ER localization, the observed changes in the FA content are more pronounced for C16:1-acid, which is due to the peculiarity of the distribution of substrates for desC protein, namely, the predominance of the content of C16:0-acid over C18:0-acid in ER. The obtained data can be used to develop strategies for directed modification of the FA content of tomato plants.