The alpha of the omega

Prepared Foods, March, 2004

According to Nature, a British weekly science journal, biotech researchers have added a gene from an earthworm into the genetic code of mice. The gene is the fat-1 gene from the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. As a result, the mice are able to convert ordinary fatty acids (omega-6) into the healthful omega-3 version normally found abundantly in fish.

The altered mice eat the same diet as normal mice but have much higher levels of omega-3s than their unmodified counterparts. Proportions of omega-6 to omega-3 vary from 20:1 to as much as 50:1 in the unaltered sample, but the altered mice have almost 1:1 ratios. The altered mice breed normally, show no signs of ill health and pass the gene on to successive generations.

Jing Kang of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, one of the authors, speculates the experiment may one day make its way into animals to produce healthier eggs, milk and meat.