Engineering omega-3 production in porcine adipocyte progenitors for nutritionally enhanced cultivated fat

Omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids (FAs) are essential nutrients known for their health-promoting properties; however, they are frequently deficient in diets. To tackle these issues, new food technologies, including cultivated fat, enable the generation of food products with increased nutrition and health values. In this study, we engineered a porcine preadipocyte cell line to express n-3 desaturase FAT1, leading to the endogenous production of n-3 FAs. This cell line accumulated more lipids during adipogenesis and increased the n-3 content in cultivated fat cells, reaching a ratio of omega-6 (n-6)/n-3 as low as 1.6:1. In addition, the n-6 and n-3 content of cultivated fat was further adjusted by changing the source of FAs in the differentiation media. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the power of genetic engineering strategies for generating new and beneficial traits in porcine cells for food, as an integral aspect of cell line development for cultivated fat biomanufacturing.