Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6) is widely applied in pharmaceutical and food industries, and the algae Aurantiochytrium has become a representative strains for DHA production due to its high biomass and lipid content. Researchers from the CAS Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) have applied metabolic engineering strategy to prepare DHA in high purity and yield.
Their strategy included partial deactivation of the competing pathway of DHA biosynthesis, by disrupting one copy of the fatty acid synthase gene, and strengthening of substrate supply and triacylglycerol synthesis, by the overexpression of acetyl-CoA carboxylase and diacylglycerol acyltransferase.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.1c03781
26-8 CAS QIBEBT achieves high yield DHA algae through metabolic engineering