Engineered Red Yeast Converts Forestry Waste into Valuable Fatty Acid

Researchers from the University of Alberta developed an engineered red yeast that converts forestry waste into a high-value fatty acid. This discovery could provide economic advantages to forestry and food industries. The study is published in Bioresource Technology.

The researchers genetically modified red yeast by introducing two key enzymes found in pomegranate fruit. The yeast strain produced punicic acid, which has cholesterol-lowering, anti-inflammatory, and anti-carcinogenic properties. When cultured with a sugar solution derived from wood waste, the yeast strain produced punicic acid, which constituted 6.4% of its total fatty acid.

“We've shown that this engineered strain can serve as an industrial platform for converting large volumes of biomass waste or byproducts into a valuable product, which may open up opportunities for creating high-value nutritional supplements, functional food and animal feed ingredients,” said Guanqun Chen, Assosciate Professor in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences and Canada Research Chair in Plant Lipid Biotechnology.

The researchers plan to refine the yeast strain to increase punicic acid production and explore alternative renewable feedstocks from Alberta's forestry and agricultural industries, such as sugar beet molasses. They also plan to engineer red yeast to produce other specialty fatty acids, like omega-3s, for nutraceutical applications.

For more information, read the article from the University of Alberta.