Development of high oleic oil crop platform in flax through RNAi-mediated multiple FAD2 gene silencing.

KEY MESSAGE: Simultaneous gene silencing of both FAD2 genes in high linoleic acid flax leads to high level of oleic acid, which is stable across multiple generations. High oleic oil is one of the preferred traits in oil crop engineering due to its stability and multiple applications as an industrial feedstock. Flax possesses two isoforms of FAD2 enzymes that desaturate monounsaturated oleic acid to polyunsaturated linoleic acid. These two enzymes are encoded by two FAD2 genes. By simultaneous gene silencing both FAD2 genes in high linoleic acid flax, Linola, high level of oleic acid up to 80% was achieved in 69 silencing lines. The high oleic trait was stable across multiple generations with oleic acid reaching up to 77% in homozygote T3 progeny. The RNAi-mediated gene-silencing approach generated high oleic linseed oil, as well as a high oleic platform that can be exploited for further fatty acid engineering.