Microbial production of rare unsaturated fatty acids and alcohols

Aeromonas hydrophila N-6, isolated from a soil sample, converted vegetable oils to several rare unsaturated fatty acids and alcohols accumulated inside the cells as a wax ester form. A. hydrophila N-6 effectively decreased fatty acid chain lengths, and converted rapeseed, safflower and linseed oils into 7-16:1 and 5-14:1 fatty acids, 7,10-16:2 and 5,8-14:2 fatty acids, and 7,10,13-16:3 fatty acids, respectively. Furthermore, A. hydrophila N-6 reduced the resulting fatty acids to rare unsaturated fatty alcohols, such as 7-16:1, 5-14:1, 9,12-18:2, 7,10-16:2, 9,12,15-18:3 and 7,10,13-16:3. Such unsaturated fatty acids and alcohols are rarely found in natural oils. Because decreasing fatty acid carbon chain lengths from the carboxyl end and reducing unsaturated fatty acids to unsaturated fatty alcohols in industrially applicable scale are both difficult reactions to accomplish by chemical means, we suggest that A. hydrophila N-6 may facilitate the introduction of new bioprocesses for producing rare unsaturated fatty acids and alcohols, especially fatty alcohols with more than two double bonds. © 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.