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Production of odd chain polyunsaturated fatty acids by Mortierella fungi
Author(s) -
Shimizu Sakayu,
Kawashima Hiroshi,
Akimoto Kengo,
Shinmen Yoshifumi,
Yamada Hideaki
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of the american oil chemists' society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1558-9331
pISSN - 0003-021X
DOI - 10.1007/bf02657620
Subject(s) - polyunsaturated fatty acid , arachidonic acid , mycelium , fatty acid , chemistry , food science , biochemistry , linoleic acid , yeast , biology , botany , enzyme
A soil isolate, Mortierella alpina 1S‐4, was found to show high production of odd chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) among various arachidonic acid‐producing Mortierella strains tested. The fungus mainly accumulated 5,8,11,M‐cis‐nonadecatetraenoic acid. With 5% n ‐hepta‐decane and 1% yeast extract as growth substrates, the amount of C 19:4 :4 acid accumulated reached 44.4 mg/g dry mycelia (0.68 mg/mL of culture broth). This value accounted for 11.2% of the total fatty acids in the extracted lipids from mycelia, and odd chain fatty acids comprised over 95% of the total mycelial fatty acids. The addition of sesamin, a specific inhibitor of A5 desaturation, caused an increase in C 19:3 acid and an accompanying decrease in C 19:4 acid. On the other hand, species of Mortierella that could not produce C‐20 PUFAs accumulated C‐17 acids, but no C‐19 PUFAs, when grown with fatty substrates with an odd chain skeleton. The odd chain PUFAs were distributed in both neutral and polar lipids. The biosynthetic route to C 19:4 acid was presumed to mimic the n‐6 route to arachidonic acid as follows: C 17:0 → C 17:1 → C 17:2 → C 17:3 → C 19:3 → C 19:4 acids.