Applications of Diacylglycerol Acyltransferase for Triacylglycerol Production in Mortierella alpina .

Triacylglycerol (TG) with high-value long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids is beneficial to human health; consequently, there is an urgent need to broaden its sources due to the current growing demand. , one of the most representative oleaginous fungi, is the only certificated source of dietary arachidonic acid-rich oil supplied in infant formula. This study was conducted to improve TG production in by homologous overexpression of diacylglycerol acyltransferase () and linseed oil (LSO) supplementation. Our results showed that the homologous overexpression of and strengthened TG biosynthesis and significantly increased the TG content compared to the wild-type by 12.24% and 14.63%, respectively. The supplementation with an LSO concentration of 0.5 g/L elevated the TG content to 83.74% and total lipid yield to 4.26 ± 0.38 g/L in the overexpression strain. Our findings provide an effective strategy for enhancing TG production and highlight the role of in TG biosynthesis in .