US scientists have found a way to change unsaturated oil in the seeds of a plant into saturated oil, a genetic technique they say could help replace petrochemicals for feedstocks for industrial processes. . .

The technique could lead to the engineering of temperate crop plants to produce saturated oils as renewable feedstocks for industrial processes and help reduce dependence on petroleum, the researchers said. . .

The genetic manipulation could also work in reverse, to engineer more healthful food oils by limiting the accumulation of saturated fatty acids, Shanklin said.

The modified oil has properties more like margarine than temperate oils do but without the trans fatty acids commonly found in margarine products, the researchers said. . .

"These results demonstrate that manipulation of a single enzyme's activity is sufficient to convert the seed oil composition of Arabidopsis from that of a typical temperate plant to that of a tropical palm-like oil," Shanklin said.