Isolation and characterization of an ω3-desaturation-defective mutant of an arachidonic acid-producing fungus, Mortierella alpina 1S-4

Abstract

A mutant considered to be defective in the conversion of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids (ω3-desaturation) was derived from a Δ5-desaturation-defective mutant (Mut44) of Mortierella alpina 1S-4, after treating its spores with N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. This mutant cannot produce 8(Z),11(Z),14(Z),17(Z)-eicosatetraenoic acid or any other n-3 fatty acids, of which about 10% was found in its parental strain upon cultivation at 12°C. The mutant's growth rate was comparable to that of the parental strain when grown at 28°C, but it became much slower when the mutant grew at 12°C, at which the lag phase for Mut44 was about 2 d but 5 d for the mutant.