Abstract
There are two groups of significant functional constituents in sesame seeds on the whole; one is the vegetable oils and another is the anti-oxidative compounds. However, although high amounts of major fatty acids are synthesized in sesame seeds, their composition is unfavorable because the contents of alpha- and gamma-linolenic acid, the essential fatty acids, are very low or do not produced in sesame seeds. So, to increase these fatty acids in sesame seeds, one strategy is to overexpress their genes, ${\omega}$-3 fatty acid desaturase for alpha-linolenic acid and delta-6 fatty acid desaturase for gamma-linolenid acid, in them. Another molecular target is to enhance alpha-tocopherol, vitamin E, because its content is very low in sesame seeds. The enzyme, gamma-tocopherol methyltransferase, catalyzes the conversion of gamma-tocophero to alpha-tocopherol. Overexpression of this enzyme in sesame seeds could be also a good molecular breeding target. Reduction of phytic acid is also another molecular target in sesame seeds because phosphorus pollution may be caused by its high content in sesame seeds. Accordingly, to do so, one of target enzymes could be myo-inositol 1-phosphate synthase which is a key regulatory enzyme in the pathway of phytic aicd biosyntheses. In this lecture, a molecular strategy for development of value-added sesame crop is described in association with some results of our experiments involved in the molecular characterizations of the genes mentioned above.
