Process For The Production Of Arachidonic Acid And/or Eicosapentaenoic Acid (Patent WO 2007/042510 A2)

The present invention relates to a new process for the production of arachidonic acid and/or eicosapentaenoic acid in plants through the co-expression of a ?-12-/?-15- desaturase, ?-9-elongase, ?-8-desaturase and a ?-5-desaturase and a process for the production of lipids or oils having an increased content of unsaturated fatty acids, in particular ?-3 and ?-6 fatty acids having at least two double bonds and a 18 or 20 carbon atom chain length. Preferably the arachidonic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid are produced in at least a 1 :2 ratio. The invention furthermore relates to the production of a transgenic plants, preferably a transgenic crop plant, having an increased content of arachidonic acid and/or ei¬ cosapentaenoic acid, oils or lipids containing Ciß- or C20- fatty acids with a double bond in position ? 5, 8, 9, 11 , 12, 14, 15 or dffthe fatty acid produced, respectively due to the expression of the ?-12-/?-15-desaturase, of the ?-9-elongase, of the ?-8- desaturase and of the ?-5-desaturase in the plant. The expression of the inventive ?- 12-/?-15-desaturase leads preferably to linoleic acid and linolenic acid as products having a double bond in the position ? 9, 12 and 15 of the fatty acid. The invention additionally relates to specific nucleic acid sequences encoding for pro¬ teins with ?-12-/?-15-desaturase-, ?-9-elongase-, ?-8-desaturase- or ?-5-desaturase- activity, nucleic acid constructs, vectors and transgenic plants containing said nucleic acid sequences.