Lipid chemistry--a personal view of some developments in the last 60 years

Seed-specific RNAi in safflower generates a superhigh oleic oil with extended oxidative stability

Vegetable oils extracted from oilseeds are an important component of foods, but are also used in a range of high value oleochemical applications. Despite being biodegradable, nontoxic and renewable current plant oils suffer from the presence of residual polyunsaturated fatty acids that are prone to free radical formation that limit their oxidative stability, and consequently shelf life and functionality. Many decades of plant breeding have been successful in raising the oleic content to ~90%, but have come at the expense of overall field performance, including poor yields. Here, we engineer superhigh oleic (SHO) safflower producing a seed oil with 93% oleic generated from seed produced in multisite field trials spanning five generations. SHO safflower oil is the result of seed-specific hairpin-based RNA interference of two safflower lipid biosynthetic genes, FAD2.2 and FATB, producing seed oil containing less than 1.5% polyunsaturates and only 4% saturates but with no impact on lipid profiles of leaves and roots. Transgenic SHO events were compared to non-GM safflower in multisite trial plots with a wide range of growing season conditions, which showed no evidence of impact on seed yield. The oxidative stability of the field-grown SHO oil produced from various sites was 50 h at 110°C compared to 13 h for conventional ~80% oleic safflower oils. SHO safflower produces a uniquely stable vegetable oil across different field conditions that can provide the scale of production that is required for meeting the global demands for high stability oils in food and the oleochemical industry.

Novel Functional Derivatives of Methyl-cis-9,10-Epoxy-Octadecanoate

The synthesis of functional derivatives of epoxystearic acid methyl ester by oxirane ring opening and transesterification of ester group has been described. Some novel surface-active and peroxide-containing compounds have been obtained. Major features of the process have been investigated and main characteristics have been determined.

Complex cellular responses to reactive oxygen species

Genome-wide analyses of yeast provide insight into cellular responses to reactive oxygen species (ROS). Many deletion mutants are sensitive to at least one ROS, but no one oxidant is representative of 'oxidative stress' despite the widespread use of a single compound such as H(2)O(2). This has major implications for studies of pathological situations. Cells have a range of mechanisms for maintaining resistance that involves either induction or repression of many genes and extensive remodeling of the transcriptome. Cells have constitutive defense systems that are largely unique to each oxidant, but overlapping, inducible repair systems. The pattern of the transcriptional response to a particular ROS depends on its concentration, and 'classical' antioxidant systems that are induced by high concentrations of ROS can be repressed when cells adapt to low concentrations of ROS.