Lipids Containing Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Synthesized by Zygomycetes Grown on Glycerol

Abstract

Several strains of Zygomycetes cultivated on glycerol produced mycelia rich in lipids containing higher amounts of neutral lipids (NL) than glycolipids plus sphingolipids and phospholipids (P), while biosynthesis of P in Mortierella ramanniana, Mucor sp., and Cunninghamella echinulata occurred though NL accumulation process was in progress. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) concentration gradually decreased in all lipid fractions of M. ramanniana during growth. In contrast, in C. echinulata concentration of both linoleic and γ-linolenic acids increased with time, especially in P. Taking for granted that the main function of PUFA is associated to their participation in mycelial membranes, we could suppose that biosynthesis of these fatty acids is associated to mycelial growth. However, this is accurate only for some Zygomycetes, e.g., M. ramanniana. On the contrary, PUFA biosynthesis in C. echinulata persists after growth cessation, suggesting that in this species biosynthetic ability is not a strictly growth-associated process. Phosphatidyl-inositol and phosphatidyl-choline were the major P classes in C. echinulata and M. ramanniana, respectively. In M. ramanniana, a decrease of PUFA concentration was noticed even when mycelia were incubated in low temperature (conditions that normally favor PUFA biosynthesis), indicating that PUFA biosynthesis in this fungus is associated to primary metabolism.

The Effect of pH and Temperature on Arachidonic Acid Production by Glycerol-Grown Mortierella alpina NRRL-A-10995

“…However, this event was observed only in some Zygomycetes; e.g., M. ramanniana. On the contrary, the biosynthesis of PUFAs in C. echinulata continued after the cessation of growth, suggesting that the synthesis of PUFAs in this species is not a strictly growth-associated process [30]. We have previously found that the AA synthesis in the M. alpina strains, LPM-301 and NRRL-A-10995, depended considerably on the nature of growth-limiting components; AA synthesis reached a peak under growth limitations by glycerol and gradually decreased with the transition in culture to nitrogen limitations [20].…”

“…As seen from Table 5 [16,29,30]. The maximum energy yield of lipids was higher than the mass yield of lipids and reached 27% in the continuous culture of M. alpina NRRL-A-10995 at 28 • C ( Table 5).…”

“…On the basis of microorganisms grown on biodiesel-derived waste glycerol, researchers developed the method of production of 1,3-propanediol [16], biomass-enriched lipids [17][18][19][20][21], carbonic acids (in particular, pyruvic acid [22]), α-ketoglutaric acid [23,24], citric acid [16,25,26], and butanol [27]. However, few reports showed the satisfactory growth of fungi of the genera Mucor, Cunninghamella, Thamnidium, Zygorhynchus, and Mortierella, and similarly for lipid synthesis when cultivated on glycerol [15][16][17][18][19]21,[28][29][30][31][32][33]. We have previously shown that both pure glycerol and glycerol-containing wastes of biodiesel production can be successfully used for AA synthesis by selected M. alpina strains [20,29].…”

Raw Glycerol and Parboiled Rice Effluent for Carotenoid Production: Effect of the Composition of Culture Medium and Initial pH

“…Bellou et al (35) found that the use of glycerol by Mortierella ramanniana did not alter the amounts of biomass in comparison with other strains of Mortierella cultivated on multiple carbon sources. However, these fungi accumulated more interesting compounds (lipids) whose production was associated with primary metabolism during mycelial growth.…”

Enhanced ethanol and glucosamine production from rice husk by NAOH pretreatment and fermentation by fungus Mucor hiemalis

“…Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the most common organism used for the fermentation of hexose, while zygomycetes fungi can utilize a wider range of monosaccharides, including pentoses, and are of high performance for ethanol production from lignocellulosic materials (Sues et al, 2005). Furthermore, the biomass of these fungi are valuable products with various applications, due to the fact the it contains considerable amounts of glucosamine (GlcN) and essential fatty acids (Chatterjee et al, 2005;Bellou et al, 2012). Glucosamine, an amino monosaccharide, is a major component of the cell wall.…”