The Production of EPA and DHA in Transgenic Plants as a Sustainable, Environmentally Friendly Source of Omega-3 Fish Oils for Use in Novel Foods.

There is wide-scale acceptance of the benefits of a diet containing oily fish as being preventative of metabolic pathologies such as CVD, and this health-protection is due to the presence of EPA and DHA, omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. These fatty acids are normally only present in the aquatic ecosystems, and as such, are sourced from either fish oils or microalgae. In the former, this requires environmentally undesirable depletion of ocenanic fish stocks, or in the latter, expensive culture by fermentation. A third alternative is to use transgenic plants engineered to make EPA and DHA as non-native enhancements to the seed oil profile.