The present invention relates to an oil comprising at least one polyunsaturated fatty acid having at least 20 carbon atoms (LC-PUFA). It is found that LC-PUFA-containing oil are susceptible to gelling by formation of microscopic crystals during storage ultimately resulting in unfavorable quality and handling properties. This problem has been particularly observed with a microbial oil comprising at least about 25% by weight LC-PUFA and a moisture content of 0.2 to 5% by weight. Surprisingly, it has been found that a LC-PUFA-containing oil as described above is effectively stable and does not show gelling properties under conventional storage conditions, if the oil composition as such contains less than about 8% preferably less than about 5% by weight of free fatty acid in the residual moisture of the oil. Therefore, the present invention is directed to an oil comprising at least about 25% by weight LC-PUFA and a moisture content comprising less than about 8% preferably less than about 5% by weight of free fatty acid.

The present invention relates to methods of synthesizing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, in recombinant cells such as yeast or plant cells. Also provided are recombinant cells or plants which produce long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a group of new enzymes which possess desaturase or elongase activity that can be used in methods of synthesizing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.

The present invention is directed to isolated thraustochytrid microorganisms as well as strains and mutants thereof. The invention is further directed to biomasses, microbial oils, compositions, cultures, methods of producing microbial oils, and methods of using the isolated thraustochytrids, biomasses, and microbial oils.

Improved labyrinthulomycetes strains that produce microbial oils having increased docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content are disclosed. The strains have increased productivity with respect to a wild type strain. Also provided are microbial oil compositions having increased DHA content. Methods of improving strains for the production of lipid, such as DHA, are also included.

The present invention relates generally to the field of recombinant fatty acid synthesis, particularly in transgenic plants. The application describes genes involved in fatty acid synthesis and provides methods and vectors for the manipulation of fatty acid composition of plant oils. In particular, the invention provides constructs for achieving the integration of multiple heterologous genes involved in fatty acid synthesis into the plant genome, such that the resulting plants produce altered levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Also described are methods for enhancing the expression of fatty acid biosynthesis enzymes by co-expressing a silencing suppressor within the plant storage organ.

Provided herein are methods of producing oils with reduced saturated fatty acids. The methods include culturing oil-producing microorganisms in a fermentation medium in the presence of one or more antifoaming agents under a controlled carbon consumption rate, wherein the culturing produces oils comprising fatty acids and wherein less than 35% of the fatty acids in the oil are saturated fatty acids.

The present invention relates to oil compositions that are enriched in polyunsaturated fatty acids; compositions containing the oil compositions; and methods of making and using the oil compositions. The oil is preferably a microbial or marine oil.

Provided is a method of producing an oil containing polyunsaturated fatty acids by using Schizochytrium sp. The method comprises: performing fermentation using Schizochytrium sp.; resuspending the resultant cells after fermentation in water, adding cellulase and neutral protease for enzymolysis; mixing the enzymatic hydrolyzate with n-hexane, shaking, extracting, centrifuging, and collecting the n-hexane phase; concentrating the n-hexane phase under reduced pressure to remove the n-hexane, and drying to obtain an oil; performing a first crystallization and a second crystallization, and then performing cold filtration to obtain a liquid oil after the second crystallization; and subjecting the liquid oil to deacidification and decolorization. By regulating fermentation conditions and conducting concentration processing on polyunsaturated fatty acids, the content of eicosapentaenoic acid in the Schizochytrium sp. is increased to more than 12%, and the obtained oil is rich in docosahexaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid.

The invention provides recombinant host organisms (e.g., plants) genetically modified with a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) synthase system and one or more accessory proteins (e.g., PPTase and/or ACoAS) that allow for and/or improve the production of PUFAs in the host organism. The present invention also relates to methods of making and using such organisms (e.g., to obtain PUFAs) as well as products obtained from such organisms (e.g., oil and/or seed).

The present disclosure relates to a mutant algal strain, wherein said mutant algal strain shows upregulation of mRNA transcripts encoding urea carboxylase, -15-3-desaturase and down-regulation of mRNA transcripts of gene encoding triacylglycerol lipase. Said mutant algal strain of the present disclosure is tolerant to low temperature and thus can be grown over a wide temperature range. The strain shows enhanced biomass and fatty acid production and enhanced growth rate and nitrogen metabolism over a wide temperature range of about 10 C. to about 37 C., wherein said enhancement is in comparison to the wild type algal strain. The present disclosure further provides a method of obtaining said mutant algal strain and method of producing industrially relevant products such as fatty acids from said mutant algal strain.