Fatty acid desaturases, especially Δ12 fatty acid desaturases, are key enzymes for the production of unsaturated fatty acids in oleaginous yeasts. In this study, we identified and characterized a gene encoding Δ12 fatty acid desaturase of Pseudozyma antarctica named PaFAD2. Almost all oleic acid (C18:1) was converted to linoleic acid by the heterologous expression of the PaFAD2 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lipomyces starkeyi oleaginous yeast. Notably, PaFad2 converted not only oleic acid to linoleic acid, but also palmitoleic acid (C16:1) to 9,12-hexadecadienoic acid (C16:2). These results indicated that the PaFAD2 gene was very useful for the production of polyunsaturated fatty acids in yeast, including oleaginous yeast.

脂肪酸去饱和酶，尤其是Δ12脂肪酸去饱和酶，是在油质酵母中产生不饱和脂肪酸的关键酶。在这项研究中，我们鉴定和表征编码Δ12脂肪酸的去饱和酶的基因Pseudozyma南极洲命名PaFAD2。PaFAD2基因在酿酒酵母和Starkeyi油质酵母中的异源表达几乎将所有油酸（C18：1）转化为亚油酸。值得注意的是，PaFad2不仅将油酸转化为亚油酸，而且将棕榈油酸酯酸（C16：1）转化为9,12-十六碳二烯酸（C16：2）。这些结果表明，PaFAD2 该基因对于在酵母（包括油质酵母）中产生多不饱和脂肪酸非常有用。