No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Oil palm is an important economic crop for Malaysia. Genetic engineering could be applied to produce transgenic oil palms with high value-added fatty acids and novel products to ensure the sustainability of the palm oil industry. Establishment of a reliable transformation and regeneration system is essential for genetic engineering. Biolistic was initially chosen as the method for oil palm transformation as it has been the most successful method for monocotyledons to date. Optimization of physical and biological parameters, including testing of promoters and selective agents, was carried out as a prerequisite for stable transformation. This has resulted in the successful transfer of reporter genes into oil palm and the regeneration of transgenic oil palm, thus making it possible to improve the oil palm through genetic engineering. Besides application of the Biolistics method, studies on transformation mediated by Agrobacterium and utilization of the green fluorescent protein gene as a selectable marker gene have been initiated. Upon the development of a reliable transformation system, a number of useful targets are being projected for oil palm improvement. Among these targets are high-oleate and high-stearate oils, and the production of industrial feedstock such as biodegradable plastics. The efforts in oil palm genetic engineering are thus not targeted as commodity palm oil. Due to the long life cycle of the palm and the time taken to regenerate plants in tissue culture, it is envisaged that commercial planting of transgenic palms will not occur any earlier than the year 2020.

In the present research, the solubility of fish oil in supercritical carbon dioxide was studied at temperatures of (40, 50, 60, and 70) °C and pressures of (13.6, 20.4, and 27.2) MPa. The fractionated fish oil samples collected were then esterified using methanol (with sodium methoxide catalyst). The samples were analyzed by GC to determine the amount of four fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) components extracted, namely, methyl palmitate, methyl oleate, methyl EPA (5,8,11,14, and methyl DHA (4,7,10,13,16,19docosahexenoate). The experimental results showed that the highest solubility of the fish oil (0.921 g of oil/100 g of CO 2 ) was obtained at optimum conditions of 40 °C and 27.2 MPa. The solubility of fish oil in supercritical carbon dioxide was found to be higher at lower temperature and at lower fractionation time. Furthermore, the average yield obtained for the combined total of the four FAME components was 66 %. Methyl palmitate recorded the highest value of 30.5 % at extraction conditions of 50 °C and 13.6 MPa. Methyl EPA has the lowest value of 3.24 %.