Positional and fatty acid specificities of Geotrichum candidum lipases.

Geotrichum candidum ATCC34614 produces a major (I) and three minor (II, III and IV) forms of lipase with similar molecular masses, but different positional and fatty acid specificities. The major and one of the minor (II) forms were confirmed to cleave both the inside and outside ester bonds of triolein indiscriminately. The non-positional specificity was also retained on 1,3-dipalmitoyl-2-oleoyl-glycerol (POP) hydrolysis. In contrast, the remaining two forms (III and IV) showed unusual positional specificity; they cleaved the inside (2-position) ester bond of triolein at nearly twice the rate of cleavage at the 1(3)-position. The preference for the inside ester bond was increased upon POP hydrolysis.