For the biosynthesis of punicic acid (18:3 D9Z,11E,13Z )a (11,14)-linoleoyl desaturase activity has been proposed. To isolate this acyl-lipid-desaturase, PCR-based cloning was used. This approach resulted in the isolationof twocomplete cDNAs. The first isolated full-length cDNA harbors a sequence of 1350 bp encoding a protein of 395 amino acids. The second cDNA was 1415 bp long encoding a protein of 387 amino acids.