Release of fatty acids by enzymatic autolysis of triglycerides from oil and protein seeds

Fatty acids produced by chemical hydrolysis of the plant lipids are startin g materials for the industry of biocarburants, biolubricants, plastics, det ergents and also as adjuvants in commercial preparation of herbicides. Howe ver the actual process used for industrial production of fatty acids from p lant lipids are highly pollute and energy consuming. In this work we tested a new process of fatty acid production involving genetically modified plan ts. Using tobacco os a model plants we introduced a genetic construct conta ining a lipase gene (from the yeast Geotrichum candidum) under the control of a seed specific promotor (promotor AtEm1) from Arabidopsis thaliana. Thi s promotor would allow the expression of the lipase gene in the embryo axis of the seeds while lipids reserves accumulate in the oilbodies in the coty ledon. Thus in vivo the lipids would be separated from the enzyme by tissul ar compartmentation. Upon grinding it is assumed that contact between the l ipase and the lipids would result in fatty acid production. Several transformants were produced by Agrobacterium tumefaciens infection, some of them expressing the lipase gene. Three of them (clones 2, 19 and 4 3) showed a significant lipase activity and were retained for future resear ches. When seeds of clone 43 were ground in a buffer, fatty acids were prod uced as it was postulated. However the fatty acid yield was low and some tr ansformants showed a defect in compartmentation of the lipase accumulation. New constructs involving modification of the AtEm1 promotor or other new pr omoters are planed before introduction of the genetic construct into agrono mically interesting plants such os rape end/or sunflower Moreover improveme nts of the enzymatic reaction conditions are needed. The reaction could occ urred inside a multifunctional reactor performing both lipid hydrolysis and rapid extraction of the produced fatty acids.