Single cell oils--have they a biotechnological future?

Although microorganisms have long been known as producers of edible oils, opportunities for their biotechnological exploitation are limited to the highest-value commodities. A recent attempt to develop a yeast oil cocoa-butter equivalent has not succeeded, not because of the inability to produce the correct formulation of fatty acids, but because of the falling price of cocoa butter on the world market. Better prospects appear to exist for producing polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) of both the n-6 and n-3 series, using either bacteria, fungi or algae. Many microbial PUFA-oils are characterized by the absence of other PUFAs, making purification of individual fatty acids an easier task than it is from other sources. Certain microorganisms may also produce prostaglandin precursors, or even prostaglandins themselves, as well as cerebroside lipids and other unusual lipids that are not normally regarded as being of microbial origin.