Allergy to mustard seeds has been reported for years, in many cases as very strong anaphylactic reactions. Recent studies have shown that this allergy is increasing and that mustard allergens can be considered among the most important food allergens, especially in countries where the consumption of mustard seed is high. Clinical studies describing hypersensitivity to mustard are reviewed in thi...

engineering with multiple genes, where problems arising from gene silencing from repeated features of the construct are feared. However, in a recent case of ‘who dares, wins’, transgenic Brassica plants enriched in polyunsaturated fatty acids were generated through incorporating nine different transgenes, expressed on a single construct from multiple napin promoters [1]. In spite of the million...

Lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase acylates the sn-2 hydroxyl group of lysophosphatidic acid to form phosphatidic acid, a precursor to triacylglycerol. A cDNA encoding lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase was isolated from developing seeds of meadowfoam (Limnanthes alba alba). The cDNA encodes a 281-amino acid protein with a molecular mass of 32 kD. The cDNA was expressed in developing seed...

The genes encoding Δ6 desaturase, Δ6 fatty acid elongase, and Δ5 desaturase from the alga, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, were co-expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana under the control of the Brassica napus napin promoter to produce arachidonic acid (ARA; 20:4 Δ 8, 11, ) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5 Δ 8, 11, 14, ). ARA and EPA accumulated up to 0.5% and 0.05% of total fatty acids, respectively...