Using nutritional and oxidative stress to increase content of healthbeneficial fatty acids in oleaginous and non-oleaginous yeasts

Yeast responses to stress conditions include an increase in lipid content and concomitant changes in content of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Some fatty acids are among the dietetically important fatty acids and new possibilities are sought for their biotechnological production in addition to those already exploited from marine organisms, nuts and other sources. The possibility of the production of palmitoleic and linoleic acids resulting from new approaches to traditional biotechnologically useful yeast species (Kluyveromyces polysporus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Torulospora delbrueckii) and species capable of high accumulation of lipids (Rhodotorula glutinis, Trichosporon cutaneum, Candida sp., Yarrowia lipolytica) was explored. The most promising was the combination of two stress factors: limitation of N-sources (C/N mass ratio of 70: 1) and oxidative stress induced by zero- valent iron nanoparticles. These conditions were conducive to the production of palmitoleic acid commonly used in cosmetics and medicine and ω-6-linoleic acid, a precursor of thromboxanes, prostaglandins and leucotrienes. The yield of these two fatty acids in T. cutaneum was more than 500 mg g^?1 (dry mass) and in Candida sp. more than 600 mg g-1 (dry mass).