EngineeringRhodosporidium toruloidesfor sustainable production of value-added punicic acid from glucose and wood residues

Abstract

AbstractRhodosporidium toruloideshas emerged as a prominent candidate for producing single-cell oil from cost-effective feedstocks. In this study, the capability ofR. toruloidesto produce punicic acid (PuA), a representative plant unusual fatty acid, was investigated. The introduction of acyl lipid desaturase and conjugase (PgFADX) allowedR. toruloidesto accumulate 3.7% of total fatty acids as PuA. Delta-12 acyl lipid desaturase (PgFAD2) and diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 were shown to benefit PuA production. The strain withPgFADXandPgFAD2coexpression accumulated 12% of its lipids as PuA from glucose, which translated into a PuA titer of 451.6 mg/L in shake flask condition. Utilizing wood hydrolysate as the feedstock, this strain produced 6.4% PuA with a titer of 310 mg/L. Taken together, the results demonstrated thatR. toruloidescould serve as an ideal platform for the production of plant-derived high-value conjugated fatty acid using agricultural and forestry waste as feedstock.