Monsanto in healthy oils drive - but it comes with a GM twist
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Soybean oils with a similar nutritional profile to olive oil could be on the market in three to five years, according to biotech giant Monsanto.
The company is developing new transgenic soybeans under the Vistive III brand with high levels of oleic acid (55-75%), ultra-low levels of linolenic acid and just 6% saturated fat, said Eric Sachs, Monsanto's scientific affairs lead: "We're effectively turning down a gene for saturated fat by manipulating the enzymes responsible for fatty acid synthesis."
Although Monsanto had tried to develop the beans using traditional plant breeding methods, it had not been possible to get the stability or yields it wanted, said Sachs. "In many cases, we can use traditional breeding to achieve our aims, but other goals can't be accomplished unless we use biotechnology."
Monsanto is also developing soybeans with high levels of stearidonic acid (SDA) as part of its programme to breed oilseeds with an enhanced nutritional profile, he said.
The beans produce up to 25% SDA, which the body converts far more readily into the better known omega-3 fatty acid EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) than alpha linolenic acid, the omega-3 in plants like flax.
SDA was also interesting in its own right as it had anti-inflammatory effects, added Sachs: "You can get SDA from many sources including echium or blackcurrant oil, but we wanted to use something more readily available."
Unusually, Monsanto was investing in human intervention trials to assess the health benefits of SDA, he said. "This is quite a departure for us."
The firm is also trying to genetically engineer plants to produce EPA and DHA - the long-chain fatty acids found in fish and algae, said Sachs. However, this was unlikely to yield significant results for a decade, he predicted.
