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Long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) are known to play an important role in human health and nutrition. Considering the limitation of LCPUFA sources, it is necessary to search new avenues for their production. Oleaginous yeasts are an attractive target for harvesting single cell oil, mainly because of the ease of cultivation with cheaper raw material. Lipomyces starkeyi is one such oleaginous yeast, which can accumulate oil to the extent of 60% of its biomass and where genetic transformation can be achieved. In our earlier work, Δ15 desaturase gene (AEP37840) from flax was transformed into L. starkeyi. In the present work, we report optimization of medium for the production of ω-3 enriched oil from this transformed yeast. A basic medium containing 20 g/l glucose as a carbon source and 10 g/l yeast extract as a nitrogen source was used during fermentation. At regular time intervals, glucose was fed to maintain high C:N ratio (65:10) during fermentation. Under the most favorable conditions, dry biomass and total lipid content were 18 and 7.29 g/l, respectively. Prior to genetic transformation, L. starkeyi contained 56.03 mg/l DHA along with 71.4 mg/l EPA and 42.2 mg/l ALA. Genetic engineering of this yeast resulted in a strain that produced 1080 mg/l DHA (17.4%) along with 74.28 mg/l EPA and 126.72 mg/l ALA possibly through modification of PUFA biosynthetic pathway. To the best of our knowledge, this is a first report of DHA enrichment and opens up avenues for LCPUFA production through L. starkeyi.

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Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) is a lignocellulosic biomass generated in palm oil mills. It is a sustainable resource for fuels and chemicals. In this study, OPEFB was converted to ethanol by an integrative OPEFB conversion process including dilute alkaline pretreatment, cellulolytic enzyme production, separate OPEFB hydrolysis, and cofermentation using a hybrid xylose-fermenting yeast. OPEFB was pretreated using 1% (w/v) NaOH solution followed by 1% (v/v) H 2 O 2. Further, cellulolytic enzymes were produced by submerged fermentation using Trichoderma reesei Rut C30 and used for OPEFB hydrolysis. The filter paper cellulase activity of the crude cellulolytic enzymes was 15.1 IU/mL, which was higher than those obtained by reported Trichoderma strains under laboratory conditions. Glucose and xylose yields reached 66.9% and 74.2%, respectively, at 30 filter paper unit (FPU)/g-biomass enzyme dosage and 10% (w/v) biomass loading. The hybrid yeast strain ScF2 was previously constructed through recursive genome shuffling of Pichia stipitis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae and was used in OPEFB hydrolysate fermentation. About 16.9 g/L ethanol was produced with an ethanol yield of 0.34 g/g sugars, which was 67% of theoretical ethanol yield.