Production of Animal Specific Sphingolipids Using Transgenic Plants

A novel mass production model of animal specific sphingolipids by using transgenic plants has been developed. Animal sphingolipids are abundant in animal tissue (e.g. brain) and expected of therapeutic applications. However, it may have a contamination risk of mammalian pathogens and toxins derived from animal tissues. This paper describes our work following the introduction of functions, industrial use of sphingolipid and the difference of the biosynthetic pathway between plants and animals.