A method of making a flavoured sweetener or food product by incubating an unrefined plant extract containing sucrose as the main solute with a microorganism or microorganisms to form a modified unrefined plant extract; evaporating water from the modified sucrose-based plant extract to form a concentrate; and cooking the concentrate to develop colour and flavour to produce the flavoured sweetener is disclosed. The flavoured sweetener can serve as a coconut sugar substitute. In a preferred embodiment the unrefined plant extract comprises sugarcane juice or sugar beet juice, and the microorganisms may be selected from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus flexus, or a Klyveromyces species. The flavoured sweetener can be used to make a range of food and beverage ingredients and also food products including sauces, natural flavour extracts and flavour molecules, chocolate, health foods and convenience forms of the various forms of flavoured sweeteners.

A method for producing a microbial oil includes steps of: genetically modifying a labyrinthulid by disrupting and/or silencing a gene, or by transforming another gene in addition to the disruption and/or gene silencing of the gene, and culturing the labyrinthulid, such that a fatty acid composition accumulated in the labyrinthulid comprises an increased EPA content; and collecting the microbial oil having the increased EPA content from the labyrinthulid. The labyrinthulid before the modification is selected from (A) a labyrinthulid belonging to the genus Parietichytrium or genus Schizochytrium and having very weak or no activity of producing PUFAs via a PUFA-PKS pathway; and (B) a labyrinthulid belonging to the genus Thraustochytrium in which a host PUFA-PKS gene is disrupted or silenced to a very weak level. The increased EPA content is preferably not less than 11.5% of a total fatty acid composition.

The present invention relates to means and methods comprising Paraburkholderia bacteria for use in preventing and/or controlling plant pests, in particular Erwinia amylovora which constitutes the causative agent of fire blight. The present invention thus relates to novel non-medical uses of Paraburkholderia bacteria for preventing and/or controlling pests on a plant and/or on a temporary part of a plant and/or being located inside of a plant. Furthermore, the present invention relates to methods and compositions comprising Paraburkholderia bacteria for preventing and/or controlling such pests on a plant and/or on a temporary part of a plant and/or being located inside of a plant as well as to the use of Paraburkholderia bacteria for the preparation of such compositions. Further provided are kits comprising components used in the methods and compositions of the invention. The inventive use of Paraburkholderia bacteria for the prevention and/or control of plant pests are, without being limiting, particularly useful in commercial crop protection campaigns, particularly against the causative agent of fire blight. Erwinia amylovora.

A method for producing a microbial oil includes genetically modifying a labyrinthulid which belongs to the genus Parietichytrium or the genus Schizochytrium by disrupting and/or silencing a 4 desaturase gene, a C20 elongase gene, and/or a C18 elongase gene, or by being transformed with an 3 desaturase gene; culturing the labyrinthulid; and collecting the microbial oil from the labyrinthulid. The labyrinthulid has an activity of synthesizing DHA via a PUFA-PKS pathway in an amount of not more than 1/100 of a total amount of DHA synthesized in the labyrinthulid or no activity of producing PUFAs via the PUFA-PKS pathway, and the labyrinthulid has an activity of producing PUFAs via an endogenous elongase-desaturase pathway.