METHODS FOR PRODUCING POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS IN TRANSGENIC ORGANISMS

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide methods for producing polyunsaturated fatty acids in living organisms and methods for producing oils and/or triacylglycerides with an elevated content of long chain unsaturated fatty acids. SOLUTION: Advantageously， a process for the production of polyunsaturated fatty acids in an organism comprises introducing into an organism a nucleic acid which encodes a polypeptide having Δ5-elongase activity， further introducing nucleic acids encoding polypeptides having Δ6-desaturase， Δ5-desaturase， Δ4-desaturase， Δ12-desaturase and/or Δ6-elongase activities， the polypeptides derived from Thalassiosira， Euglena or Ostreococcus. The transgenic organism is preferably a transgenic plant or a transgenic microorganism. SELECTED DRAWING: None