Certain plants and microorganisms can produce high amounts of unusual fatty acids (UFAs) such as hydroxy, conjugated, cyclic, and very long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, which have distinct physicochemical properties and significant applications in the food, feed, and oleochemical industries. Since many natural sources of UFAs are not ideal for large-scale agricultural production or fermentation, it is attractive to produce them through synthetic biology. Although several UFAs have been commercially or pre-commercially produced in transgenic plants and microorganisms, their contents in transgenic hosts are generally much lower than in natural sources. Moreover, reproducing this success for a wider spectrum of UFAs has remained challenging. This review discusses recent advancements in our understanding of the biosynthesis, accumulation, and heterologous production of UFAs, and addresses the challenges and potential strategies for achieving high UFA content in engineered plants and microorganisms.

中文翻译：

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转基因植物和重组微生物生产异常脂肪酸的生物技术进展


某些植物和微生物可以产生大量的不寻常脂肪酸 (UFA)，例如羟基脂肪酸、共轭脂肪酸、环状脂肪酸和超长链多不饱和脂肪酸，它们具有独特的理化特性，在食品、饲料和油脂化学工业中具有重要应用。由于许多天然来源的 UFA 并不适合大规模农业生产或发酵，因此通过合成生物学生产它们很有吸引力。尽管一些UFA已在转基因植物和微生物中商业化或商业化前生产，但它们在转基因宿主中的含量通常远低于天然来源。此外，在更广泛的 UFA 中复制这一成功仍然具有挑战性。这篇综述讨论了我们对 UFA 生物合成、积累和异源生产的理解的最新进展，并讨论了在工程植物和微生物中实现高 UFA 含量的挑战和潜在策略。