Why Perilla Oil Contains High Levels of 'Omega-3 Fatty Acids'... Professor Kim Hyun-wook's Team at Sejong University Reveals at Molecular Level

Sejong University announced on the 21st that a research team led by Professor Kim Hyun-wook from the Department of Bio-Industrial Resources has elucidated at the molecular level why perilla oil contains a high amount of alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid, accounting for 60%.

Professor Kim Hyun-wook, Department of Bio-Industrial Resources, Sejong University [Photo by Sejong University]

This study was conducted in collaboration with Professor Heo Jae-bok's team from Dong-A University and was published online in the renowned international journal in the field of plant sciences, Plant & Cell Physiology.

Perilla is a native oil crop of Korea and is widely cultivated as a field crop in the country. Perilla oil has been used not only for cooking but also in various aspects of daily life, such as finishing the floor coverings of ondol rooms. Although perilla oil is known for its very high content of alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid), exceeding 60%, the reason for this had not been clarified.

The research team selected lines with reduced omega-3 fatty acid content during the process of inducing mutations in perilla using gamma radiation. In this process, they discovered that the currently cultivated perilla is a tetraploid and possesses two copies of the FAD3 gene, which synthesizes polyunsaturated fatty acids including omega-3 fatty acids, in its genome. Furthermore, by utilizing the gene-editing technology CRISPR/Cas9, they knocked out the functions of the two FAD3 genes to create perilla plants lacking omega-3 fatty acids. They revealed that the increase in omega-3 fatty acid content in the oil of currently cultivated perilla is due to the duplication of FAD3 genes as a result of tetraploidization during evolution.

Professor Kim stated, "This study achieved a technological breakthrough by revealing for the first time at the molecular level why perilla oil contains a high amount of health-beneficial omega-3 fatty acids," adding, "It is significant in that it demonstrated the possibility of developing perilla varieties that produce various types of fatty acids by utilizing radiation and gene-editing technologies."