Overexpression of delta-12 desaturase in the yeast Schwanniomyces occidentalis enhances the production of linoleic acid

Dennis Lamers; Bram Visscher; Ruud A Weusthuis; Christof Francke; René H Wijffels; Christien Lokman

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121672

Overexpression of delta-12 desaturase in the yeast Schwanniomyces occidentalis enhances the production of linoleic acid

Bioresour Technol. 2019 Oct:289:121672. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121672. Epub 2019 Jun 20.

Authors

Dennis Lamers¹, Bram Visscher², Ruud A Weusthuis³, Christof Francke⁴, René H Wijffels⁵, Christien Lokman⁶

Affiliations

¹ HAN BioCentre, University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 6960, 6503 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Bioprocess Engineering, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: [email protected].
² HAN BioCentre, University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 6960, 6503 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Bioprocess Engineering, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ HAN BioCentre, University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 6960, 6503 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ Bioprocess Engineering, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture, Nord University, P.O. Box 1409, 8049 Bodø, Norway. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁶ HAN BioCentre, University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 6960, 6503 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 31234072
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121672

Abstract

The oleaginous yeast Schwanniomyces occidentalis was previously isolated because of its excellent suitability to convert lignocellulosic hydrolysates into triacyl glycerides: it is able to use a broad range of sugars and is able to tolerate high concentrations of lignocellulosic hydrolysate inhibitors. Compared to other oleaginous yeasts S. occidentalis however produces a low content of unsaturated fatty acids. We show here that the linoleic acid content can be significantly improved by (over)expression Δ12-desaturases derived from S. occidentalis and Fusarium moniliforme. Expression was stable for the homologous expression but decreased during heterologous expression. Both homologous and heterologous expression of mCherry-Δ12-desaturase led to a 4-fold increase in linoleic acid from 0.02 g/g biomass to 0.08 g/g biomass resulting in the production of 2.23 g/L and 2.05 g/L of linoleic acid.

Keywords: FAD2; Fatty acid desaturase; Linoleic acid; Schwanniomyces occidentalis.

MeSH terms

Fatty Acid Desaturases*
Fatty Acids, Unsaturated
Linoleic Acid*
Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Substances

Fatty Acids, Unsaturated
Linoleic Acid
Fatty Acid Desaturases