A method of directly microbially converting a plant oil, an animal fat, free fatty acid, or a combination thereof to wax esters includes growing a yeast or bacterial strain in a medium comprising the plant oil, the animal fat, the free fatty acid, or combination thereof, under conditions suitable to produce the wax esters, wherein the yeast or bacterial strain is engineered to express a FAR gene encoding fatty acid alcohol reductase and a WS gene encoding a wax ester synthase, and optionally isolating the produced wax esters. Similar methods of directly microbially converting a plant oil, an animal fat, free fatty acid, or a combination thereof to omega-3 fatty acids by growing a microorganism in a medium comprising the plant oil, the animal fat, the free fatty acid, or combination thereof, under conditions suitable to produce omega-3 fatty acids are also described.

The present invention provides a method for extracting lipids from microorganisms without using organic solvent as an extraction solvent. In particular, the present invention provides a method for extracting lipids from microorganisms by lysing cells and removing water soluble compound and/or materials by washing the lysed cell mixtures with aqueous washing solutions until a substantially non-emulsified lipid is obtained.

Provided is a Schizochytrium limacinum strain, a building method therefor and an application thereof. The strain disclosed is classified and named as Schizochytrium sp. HX-RS, and the preservation number is CCTCC NO: M2017046. An acyltransferase functional domain originating from Shewanella PKS enzyme is adopted instead of an acyltransferase functional domain originating from Schizochytrium sp. PKS enzyme, and the strain is obtained by performing flat panel screening and acclimation screening with a high rotation seed and a low temperature.

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.

A microbial oil is obtained from Labyrinthulomycetes in which a gene for fatty acid biosynthesis has been disrupted or an expression of the gene has been inhibited to highly accumulate the fatty acid. The microbial oil typically contains: (a) 1.5% or more of arachidonic acid (AA) based on a total amount of fatty acid; (b) 0.2% or more of dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (DGLA) based on the total amount of fatty acid; (c) 0.04% or more of eicosatetraenoic acid (ETA) based on the total amount of fatty acid; (d) 3.8% or more of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) based on the total amount of fatty acid; (e) 13.7% or less of n-6 docosapentaenoic acid (n-6DPA) based on the total amount of fatty acid; and (f) 43.9% or less of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) based on the total amount of fatty acid.

Provided is a method for producing an unsaturated fatty acid oxide (e.g. ω3 fatty acid oxide) that is new and has more beneficial features compared to conventional technologies. This method uses a lipoxygenase-containing composition (e.g. a lipoxygenase-containing composition derived from beans) as a lipoxygenase enzyme, and also uses a freezing method with organic solvent extraction. The present invention makes it possible to produce an unsaturated fatty acid oxide (e.g. ω3 fatty acid oxide) efficiently and at a low cost. The present invention also provides a pharmaceutical composition containing an ω3 fatty acid oxide isolated and purified by this method as an active ingredient.

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 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 desatorase or elongase activity that can be used in methods of synthesizing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.

The invention provides isolated nucleic acid molecules which encode novel fatty acid desaturases and elongases from the organism Emiliana huxleyi. The invention also provides recombinant expression vectors containing desaturase or elongase nucleic acid molecules, host cells into which the expression vectors have been introduced, and methods for large-scale production of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs), e.g. arachidonic acid (ARA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

Provided herein are methods of culturing a microorganism. The methods include providing a container comprising one or more microorganisms in a medium, which has a first carbon to nitrogen ratio; culturing the microorganisms until the culture reaches a threshold indicator; harvesting a portion of the culture while maintaining the majority of the culture in the container; and adding fresh medium comprising a second carbon to nitrogen ratio to the container with the majority of the culture comprising the microorganisms.