Process For The Production Of Arachidonic And/or Eicosapentaenoic Acid (Patent GB 2431158 A)

A process for the production of arachidonic acid and/or eicosapentaenoic acid in plants through the co-expression of a W -12-/ W -15-desaturase, W -9-elongase, W -8-desaturase and a W -5-desaturase and a process for the production of lipids or oils having an increased content of unsaturated fatty acids, in particular l -3 and l -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 eicosapentaenoic acid. The invention additionally relates to specific nucleic acid sequences encoding for proteins with W -12-/ W -15-desaturase-, W -9-elongase-, W -8-desaturase- or W -5-desaturase-activity, nucleic acid constructs, vectors and transgenic plants containing said nucleic acid sequences.