Altering the fatty acid profile of Yarrowia lipolytica to mimic cocoa butter by genetic engineering of desaturases

BACKGROUND: Demand for Cocoa butter is steadily increasing, but the supply of cocoa beans is naturally limited and under threat from global warming. One route to meeting the future demand for cocoa butter equivalent (CBE) could be to utilize microbial cell factories such as the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. RESULTS: The main goal was to achieve triacyl-glycerol (TAG) storage lipids in Y. lipolytica mimicking cocoa butter. This was accomplished by replacing the native Δ9 fatty acid desaturase (Ole1p) with homologs from other species and changing the expression of both Ole1p and the Δ12 fatty acid desaturase (Fad2p). We thereby abolished the palmitoleic acid and reduced the linoleic acid content in TAG, while the oleic acid content was reduced to approximately 40 percent of the total fatty acids. The proportion of fatty acids in TAG changed dramatically over time during growth, and the fatty acid composition of TAG, free fatty acids and phospholipids was found to be very different. CONCLUSIONS: We show that the fatty acid profile in the TAG of Y. lipolytica can be altered to mimic cocoa butter. We also demonstrate that a wide range of fatty acid profiles can be achieved while maintaining good growth and high lipid accumulation, which, together with the ability of Y. lipolytica to utilize a wide variety of carbon sources, opens up the path toward sustainable production of CBE and other food oils. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12934-022-01748-x.