The new strain, IKG-1, is a freshwater microalga that the researchers believe is the only known plant source capable of producing such significant amounts of DGLA
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have isolated a microalgal strain which produces large amounts of a polyunsaturated fatty acid that could reduce blood pressure, chronic inflammation and blood cholesterol level, reducing the risk for heart attacks.
A research team at BGU's Landau Family Microalgal Biotechnology Lab in the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR) headed by Prof. Zvi HaCohen, is studying an algal mutant that is capable of accumulating up to 15 percent (of dry weight) of a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) called DGLA (Dihomo-γ-Linolenic Acid). The new strain, IKG-1, is a freshwater microalga that the researchers believe is the only known plant source capable of producing such significant amounts of DGLA.
"Omega-6 PUFA are necessary as components of brain cell membranes and have various nutritional uses," explains HaCohen, incumbent of the Maks and Rochelle Etingin Chair in Desert Research and rector-elect at BGU. "DGLA is one of these PUFA, but appears in nature only as an intermediate in the biosynthesis of other compounds and does not accumulate to any appreciable concentration. There is no natural source for DGLA and although its beneficial effects are well known, very few clinical studies have been conducted."
The research team also included the director of the Landau Laboratory, Prof. Sammy Boussiba; director of the BIDR Prof. Avigad Vonshak; Dr. Inna Khozin-Goldberg; and Ph.D. student Pushkar Shrestha.