Enzymatic synthesis of trieicosapentaenoylglycerol in a solvent-free medium

Immobilized MAS1 Lipase-catalyzed Synthesis of n-3 PUFA-rich Triacylglycerols in Deep Eutectic Solvents

n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)-rich triacylglycerols (TAG) with many beneficial effects are still difficult to be synthesized efficiently and rapidly by current synthetic techniques. This study reports the fatty acid specificity of immobilized MAS1 lipase and its efficient synthesis of n-3 PUFA-rich TAG by esterification of glycerol with n-3 PUFA in natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) systems. Immobilized MAS1 lipase showed the highest preference for capric acid [C10:0, the highest specificity constant (1/α)=1] whereas it discriminated strongly against docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) due to their lowest specificity constants (1/α=0.19 and 0.2). Moreover, the highest n-3 PUFA-rich TAG content (55.8%) with similar n-3 PUFA composition to the substrate was obtained in choline chloride/glycerol (CG) system. There was a 1.38-fold increase of TAG content in CG system compared with that in the solvent-free system. Interestingly, immobilized MAS1 lipase exhibited no regiospecificity in the solvent-free and various NADES systems. Besides, the potential reaction mechanism of immobilized MAS1 lipase-catalyzed esterification of glycerol with n-3 PUFA in NADES systems was described. It was found that the use of NADES as solvents could greatly enhance TAG content, and make it easy to separate the product. These results indicated that immobilized MAS1 lipase is a promising biocatalyst for the efficient synthesis of n-3 PUFA-rich TAG by esterification of glycerol with n-3 PUFA in NADES systems.

Biosynthesis of Triacylglycerol Molecules with a Tailored PUFA Profile in Industrial Microalgae

The composition of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in triacylglycerols (TAGs) is key to health benefits and for oil applications, yet the underlying genetic mechanism remains poorly understood. In this study, by in silico, ex vivo, and in vivo profiling of type-2 diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGAT2s) in Nannochloropsis oceanica we revealed two novel PUFA-preferring enzymes that discriminate individual PUFA species in TAG assembly, with NoDGAT2J for linoleic acid (LA) and NoDGAT2K for eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The LA and EPA composition of TAG molecules is mediated in vivo via the functional partitioning between NoDGAT2J and 2K, both of which are localized in the chloroplast envelope. By modulating transcript abundance of the DGAT2s, an N. oceanica strain bank was created, where proportions of LA and EPA in TAG vary by 18.7-fold (between 0.21% and 3.92% dry weight) and 34.7-fold (between 0.09% and 3.12% dry weight), respectively. These findings lay the foundation for producing designer TAG molecules with tailored health benefits or for biofuel applications in industrial microalgae and higher-plant crops.

Two-Stage Enzymatic Preparation of Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) And Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) Enriched Fish Oil Triacylglycerols

Fish oil products in the form of triacylglycerols generally have relatively low contents of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and so it is of potential research and industrial interest to enrich the related contents in commercial products. Thereby an economical and efficient two-stage preparation of EPA and DHA enriched fish oil triacylglycerols is proposed in this study. The first stage was the partial hydrolysis of fish oil by only 0.2 wt.‰ AY "Amano" 400SD which led to increases of EPA and DHA contents in acylglycerols from 19.30 and 13.09 wt % to 25.95 and 22.06 wt %, respectively. Subsequently, products of the first stage were subjected to transesterification with EPA and DHA enriched fatty acid ethyl esters (EDEE) as the second stage to afford EPA and DHA enriched fish oil triacylglycerols by using as low as 2 wt % Novozyme 435. EDEEs prepared from fish oil ethyl ester, and recycled DHA and EPA, respectively, were applied in this stage. Final products prepared with two different sources of EDEEs were composed of 97.62 and 95.92 wt % of triacylglycerols, respectively, with EPA and DHA contents of 28.20 and 21.41 wt % for the former and 25.61 and 17.40 wt % for the latter. Results not only demonstrate this two-stage process's capability and industrial value for enriching EPA and DHA in fish oil products, but also offer new opportunities for the development of fortified fish oil products.

Production of Omega-3 Triacylglycerol Concentrates using a New Food Grade Immobilized Candida antarctica Lipase B

Triacylglycerol concentrates of eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic omega-3 fatty acids were synthesized either via transesterification or esterification of glycerol with the corresponding ethyl ester or free fatty acid concentrates, respectively. A newly developed food grade immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B system using an Amberlite FPX-66 hydrophobic matrix, was compared with a commercially available non-food grade commercial system, for their ability to catalyze these reactions. For either system, the transesterification required higher temperature (90°C) than esterification (70°C) to achieve maximum triacylglycerol yields. The newly developed immobilized system efficiently catalyzes the esterification of free fatty acids with glycerol and differs from the existing commercial system in that it is food grade and has a more uniform and larger particle distribution. The new system significantly improves flow in a packed bed reactor, enabling multiple reuse of the catalyst for up to 80 repeats.