12/10/2005 (Food Navigator.com) - The Philippines is developing agenetically modified (GM) coconut with at least as much lauric acid ascanola to allow it to hold onto its leading share of the world’s vegetableoil market.

Lauric acid, a medium-length long-chain fatty acid, is found in the formof glycerides in a number of natural fats, especially coconut and palmkernel. It offers advantages in food processing as it acts as a kind ofpreservative, staving off oxidation and spoiling.Lauric acid is also believed to have antimicrobial properties and isfrequently exploited by pharmaceutical companies as well.

But the development of canola with a lauric acid content of 60 per cent isthreatening the Philippines' lead in the oils market. The canola isalready available in the US although not yet used to a large extent inAsia.

Now a team at the University of the Philippines-Los Baños say they havelocated the genes responsible for production of lauric acid and they willhave a lauric acid-rich coconut plant ready for commercial launch as earlyas next year.

"The Philippines is meeting 65 per cent of the world's need for vegetableoil. (But) the development of canola with 60 per cent lauric acid contentmakes it difficult for us to compete in the market, unless we're able tomodify it through genetic engineering," Dr Rita P. Laude, gene discoveryproject leader at the university told the Manila Bulletin Online.

The three cloned genes significant in fatty acid synthesis - acetylCoAcarboxylase, acyl-ACP thioesterase, phosphatidic acid phosphatase - arecurrently being tested for their ability to produce the enzymes that 'overexpress' or multiply the gene characterizing coconut's lauric acidcontent.

"Three more genes - beta ketoacyl ACP synthase3, acyl carrier protein, andlysophos-phatidic acid acyltransferase - are needed in order to maximizeincrease in potential GM lauric acid content," said assistant professorMarni E. Cueno, who also works with Laude.

Today, soybean and palm oil combined account for over half of all oilconsumed in the world. Canola is the third largest oil crop, reaching 15million tons in 2004 but more expensive than the other two.