Genetically modified oils

The soybean oil described by Wilson (1999) with almost 80% oleic acid is a non-genetically modified oil resulting from the Better Bean Initiative and was expected to be ready for sowing during the 2000 seasoa... 

In summary, Camelina is well positioned to become a sustainable crop for use of its oil in biofuel production and the meal byproduct as a feed ration for livestock. However, the potential for Camelina as a source of oils for industrial use and for the chemical industry remain viable options as weU as using genetically modified Camelina for production of healthy oils for human consumption. This chapter will address the use of Camelina for oil production, the meal for livestock rations, the Camelina genome, and the transformation of Camelina for genetically modified oil production and pharmaceutical production. 

ChE will be challenged to develop creative process for recycling of waste materials, rather than burning or discarding them. One potential process is bioremediation, using genetically modified microorganisms to decompose the waste. This approach has already been applied to the treatment of oil spills. 

The food technologist may be especially interested in the fate of the carotenoids in the seed oil. Like red palm oil, the resulting carotenoid-pigmented canola oil may be more stable due to the antioxidant properties of carotenoids and may be more attractive to consumers. Alternatively, for food security concerns, transgenic soybean or canola oils and seed meals that are genetically modified for more efficient bio-diesel production may be bio-safety marked with lipid-soluble carotenoids and water-soluble anthocyanins, respectively. Potatoes are excellent potential sources of dietary carotenoids, and over-expression of CrtB in tubers led to the accumulation of P-carotene. Potatoes normally have low levels of leaf-type carotenoids, like canola cotyledons. 

Fats and oils are triesters of the trivalent alcohol glycerol and three (different) even-numbered aliphatic carboxylic acids, the fatty acids. Fats and oils differ in the length and the number of unsaturated bonds in the carbon chain. The shorter Cio-Ci4-fatty acids are obtained from coconut oil and palm kernel oil. These fatty acids are mostly saturated, and they are used in the manufacture of detergents. Cig-fatty acids are more widely used. Oleic acid, a Cig-fatty acid with an unsaturated bond on the ninth carbon atom, can be produced from many crops. Specific varieties or genetically modified plants, such as rape, have a content of over 90% oleic acid [4]. 

Oils derived from genetically modified plants... 

Adhvaryu, A., Erhan, S. Z., Liu, Z. S., and Perez, J. 2000. Oxidation Kinetic Studies of Oils Derived from Unmodified and Genetically Modified Vegetables Using Pressurized Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Thermochim. Acta, 364, 87-97. 

Mounts, T. L., Warner, K., and List, G. R., Performance evaluation of hexane-extracted oils from genetically-modified soybeans, J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc., 71, 16-161 (1994). 

ESBO is a heat stabiliser and secondary plasticiser used in PVC-P applications. It has food contact approval up to certain limits but there have been some environmental/political issues concerning the possible use of genetically modified soya bean oil in the manufacture of ESBO. 

The advantage for the farmer is that he needs only one product, instead of several different selective (and more expensive) herbicides. Roundup ready soybeans were launched in 1996 and today 50 percent of the soybean crop in the United States is derived from roundup ready seeds. Other glyphosate-resistant transgenic crops introduced by Monsanto are maize and oil seed rape. Competing companies also developed herbicide-resistant plants or plants genetically modified to be protected against certain pests, but none has achieved a commercial breakthrough, mainly because of political reasons. 

Attempts are being made to develop oils of various cuphea species rich in one or the other of the Cg to C14 acids. (Section 6). Genetically modified rapeseed oil with lauric acid is also available but has not yet proved to be economically viable (28-30). 

Genetically modified seed oils Recent years have witnessed great strides in the understanding and application of genetic engineering. This has been applied to... 

DHA, will be able to achieve this is, at least to the present authors, far from clear. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that such genetically modified plants may produce much less oil than the normal plant as the energy and reducing power needed (by the desaturase and elongase reactions) to produce the PUFAs must come from the same sources that are being used to synthesize the normal fatty acids. The situation in plants may parallel what was found with the production of GLA in Mucor spp. (see Section 2.2.1) You can either find strains that produce a lot of oil but have little GLA, or you can find strains that produce a lot of GLA but have little oil, but you cannot have both occurring simultaneously. It may then take additional genetic manipulations to correct this imbalance, but distortion of one metabolic pathway can only be achieved at the expense of another so this is not likely to be a trivial task. 

TABLE 10. Response of Diluents and Additives on Genetically Modified Vegetable Oil. 

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