Аннотация:Acetylenic bonds are present in more than 600 naturally occurring compounds. Plant enzymes that catalyze the formation of the Δ12 acetylenic bond in 9-octadecen-12-ynoic acid and the Δ12 epoxy group in 12,13-epoxy-9-octadecenoic acid were characterized, and two genes, similar in sequence, were cloned. When these complementary DNAs were expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana , the content of acetylenic or epoxidated fatty acids in the seeds increased from 0 to 25 or 15 percent, respectively. Both enzymes have characteristics similar to the membrane proteins containing non–heme iron that have histidine-rich motifs.
