Arachidonic acid production by Mortierella alpina with growth-coupled lipid synthesis

• Published in: Process biochemistry (1991) Vol. 35; no. 10; pp. 1171 - 1175
• Main Authors: Eroshin, V.K., Satroutdinov, A.D., Dedyukhina, E.G., Chistyakova, T.I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-07-2000
• Subjects: Arachidonic acid; Batch culture; Continuous cultivation; Fungi; Lipid; Mortierella alpina; Fungi; Mortierella alpina; Batch culture; Continuous cultivation; Arachidonic acid; Lipid
• ISSN: 1359-5113; 1873-3298
• DOI: 10.1016/S0032-9592(00)00151-5

The fungus
Mortierella alpina LPM 301, a producer of arachidonic acid (ARA), was found to possess a unique property of a growth-coupled lipid synthesis. An increase in specific growth rate (
μ) from 0.03 to 0.05 h
−1 resulted in a two-fold increase in the specific rate of lipid synthesis (milligram lipid (gram per lipid-free biomass) per hour). Under batch cultivation in glucose-containing media with urea or potassium nitrate as nitrogen sources, the ARA content was 46.0 and 60.4% of lipid; 16.4 and 18.8% of dry biomass; and 4.2 and 4.5 g l
−1, respectively. Under continuous cultivation of the strain, the productivity of ARA synthesis was 16.2 and 19.2 mg l
−1 h
−1 at
μ=0.05 and 0.03 h
−1, respectively.