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Microbial Conversion of Arachidonic Acid to Arachidonyl Alcohol by a New Acinetobacter Species
Author(s) -
Nagao Toshihiro,
Watanabe Yomi,
Tanaka Shigemitsu,
Shizuma Motohiro,
Shimada Yuji
Publication year - 2012
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/s11746-012-2057-3
Subject(s) - arachidonic acid , alcohol , chemistry , ethanol , fatty alcohol , fatty acid , methanol , strain (injury) , organic chemistry , biology , enzyme , anatomy
Arachidonyl alcohol rarely occurs in natural oils. It can be used as a substrate for production of several ether lipids possessing beneficial functions. Although arachidonyl alcohol has been produced on a laboratory scale by the chemical reduction of arachidonic acid, it will be difficult to scale up this process for industrial application. The aim of this study was to develop a new bioprocess for converting arachidonic acid to arachidonyl alcohol. Screening was conducted using 11 wax ester‐ (esters of fatty acids and fatty alcohols) producing strains reported in our previous study, and a single‐cell oil containing arachidonic acid. A new strain, Acinetobacter species N‐476‐2, most effectively converted arachidonic acid to arachidonyl alcohol, which accumulated inside the cells as a wax ester. GC–MS, FT–IR, and NMR analyses showed that this strain reduced the carboxyl group of 5‐ cis ,8‐ cis ,11‐ cis ,14‐ cis ‐arachidonic acid to a hydroxyl group without altering the position or configuration of the double bonds; the product was identified as 5‐ cis ,8‐ cis ,11‐ cis ,14‐ cis ‐arachidonyl alcohol. A time‐course study of cultivation showed that the amount of arachidonyl alcohol produced by the strain after 4 days was 2.2 mg/mL culture. The bioprocess using Acinetobacter sp. N‐476‐2 can be applied to the large‐scale production of arachidonyl alcohol.