Soil microorganisms produce omega-3 fatty acids

S  Gayathri; Saket Prabhu; Ayon Mitra; Vivek Kumar; J  Shenbaga Sheela; G  Rajani; N  Sundar   and S  N  Sivvaswamy

doi:10.17485/ijst/2010/v3i5.4

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Soil microorganisms produce omega-3 fatty acids

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Indian Journal of Science and Technology

DOI: 10.17485/ijst/2010/v3i5.4

Year: 2010, Volume: 3, Issue: 5, Pages: 499-503

Original Article

Soil microorganisms produce omega-3 fatty acids

S. Gayathri¹ , Saket Prabhu² , Ayon Mitra² , Vivek Kumar² , J. Shenbaga Sheela¹, G. Rajani¹ , N. Sundar¹ and S. N. Sivvaswamy^1*

¹ Shri Meera Biotech Pvt Ltd, Ekkattuthangal, Chennai 600 032, Tamil Nadu, India
² Department of Biotechnology, Dr MGR University, Maduravoyal, Chennai 600 095, Tamil Nadu, India
[email protected]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Studies on the application of functional lipids such as Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs) have proceeded in various fields in search of novel and rich sources for health and dietary requirements. Natural limitations favour a novel approach for the production of omega-3 fatty acids. A series of PUFAs including Eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and Docosahexanoic acid (DHA) have widespread nutritional and pharmaceutical values. This study investigated the potential production of these two economically important fatty acids from fungi. The microorganisms used were Trichoderma sp and Aspergillus niger, isolated from soil. The use of Trichoderma sp. is preferred since it produced considerable amounts of EPA and DHA. This paper presents the results on the ratios of EPA and DHA produced by these microorganisms and recovery aspects.
Keywords: PUFA, Omega-3, Trichoderma sp., Aspergillus sp.