Fatty acid alteration by a delta 9 desaturase in transgenic tobacco tissue.

Nicotiana tabacum tissue was transformed with a rat stearyl-CoA desaturase gene. Gas chromatographic analysis showed an increase in monounsaturated 16 and 18 carbon fatty acids in selected transformed calli and leaves. Fractionation of lipid classes indicated that palmitoleic acid was found in the phosphatidylcholine fraction of desaturase-transformed leaves, but not in leaves transformed with vector sequences. Plant transformation was verified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of total leaf DNA.