A COMMON weed has been genetically altered to produce essential fatty acids normally only obtainable from fish.
Oily fish and supplements such as cod liver oil are full of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, a necessary nutrient for keeping heart, brain, skin and joints healthy. In the plant world, only algae produce such fatty acids.
Other plants produce short-chain omega-3 fatty acids, which can be converted into longer-chained ones in the body. “But that’s not very efficient,” says Gary Dobson of the Scottish Crop Research Institute in Dundee, UK.
Dobson and his colleagues took two genes from algae and one from…
