Polyunsaturated fatty acids in marine bacteria and strategies to enhance their production

Abstract

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) play an important role in human diet. Despite the wide-ranging importance and benefits from heart health to brain functions, humans and mammals cannot synthesize PUFAs de novo. The primary sources of PUFA are fish and plants. Due to the increasing concerns associated with food security as well as issues of environmental contaminants in fish oil, there has been considerable interest in the production of polyunsaturated fatty acids from alternative resources which are more sustainable, safer, and economical. For instance, marine bacteria, particularly the genus of Shewanella, Photobacterium, Colwellia, Moritella, Psychromonas, Vibrio, and Alteromonas, are found to be one among the major microbial producers of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Recent developments in the area with a focus on the production of polyunsaturated fatty acids from marine bacteria as well as the metabolic engineering strategies for the improvement of PUFA production are discussed.

Soluble Sugar and Lipid Readjustments in the Yarrowia lipolytica Yeast at Various Temperatures and pH

“…In [31], a three-fold increase in α-linolenic acid production under low-temperature cultivation in the Y. lipolytica line with transformed ∆12-15 desaturase (RkD12-15) was shown. So far, some studies have used low temperature cultivation in some yeast species, namely Y. lipolytica and Mortierella alpina, to produce polyunsaturated fatty acids [32,33]. When cultivated at 28 • C for 24 h followed by 20 • C, Y. lipolytica could increase γ-linolenic acid production by 60.9% [32].…”

Novel Vibrio spp. Strains Producing Omega-3 Fatty Acids Isolated from Coastal Seawater

“…Microorganisms (bacteria and phytoplankton) are the primary producers of omega-3 PUFAs in marine ecosystems and they transfer these valuable fatty acids to the rest of the food chain. Bacteria also represent a green source of LC-PUFAs, with cheaper downstream purification processes compared with fish oil [9][10][11][12][13]. In the last years, several marine bacterial cultures have been isolated with the ability to produce omega-3 fatty acids and the metabolic pathways behind their synthesis have been identified.…”

“…Most of the known microbial producers are gamma-Proteobacteria affiliated with the genera Moritella, Photobacteria, Shewanella, Colwellia, Psychromonas, and Vibrio [14]. In the Flavobacteria class, some isolates affiliated with Flexibacter and Psychroserpens have also shown the ability to produce omega-3 LC-PUFAs [12]. These isolates have been predominantly retrieved from polar regions and deep ocean habitats characterized by high pressure and/or low temperature [10,12,15] or as part of the gut microbiota of some marine and freshwater fishes [16,17].…”

“…In the Flavobacteria class, some isolates affiliated with Flexibacter and Psychroserpens have also shown the ability to produce omega-3 LC-PUFAs [12]. These isolates have been predominantly retrieved from polar regions and deep ocean habitats characterized by high pressure and/or low temperature [10,12,15] or as part of the gut microbiota of some marine and freshwater fishes [16,17]. A variety of physiological roles of LC-PUFAs in microorganisms have been proposed, including adaptation to psychrophile and piezophile habitats by enhancing membrane fluidity [18][19][20] and acting as antioxidants [21][22][23][24].…”

Complete Genome Sequence of the Deep-Sea Bacterium Moritella marina MP-1 (ATCC 15381)

“…The marine bacterium Moritella marina (MP-1) has been reported to produce unusually high levels of the PUFA docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (3,4). This makes MP-1 interesting with regard to the biotechnological production of DHA (5). Currently, only 2 draft genome assemblies for MP-1 are publicly available (GenBank accession numbers GCA_000291685.1 and GCA_000381865.1).…”