Oleaginous fungi accumulate a high amount of lipids in their dry biomass and have attracted more attention, due to their broad potential in biotechnological applications. The present study aimed to isolate and evaluate efficient oleaginous endophytic fungi from selected plants, followed by optimizing the potential strain's growth parameters. A total of 51 morphologically distinct fungal isolates were isolated and examined for their oleaginous character. From the preliminary screening and fermentation assay, 13 fungal isolates were identified based on their high lipid with biomass or polyunsaturated fatty acids in their fatty acid profile. During our screening process, the fungal isolate identified as Gilbertella persicaria DSR1 was found to have desirable features, such as the highest cell dry biomass (12.7 g L⁻¹) and lipid content (34.5% of biomass) with 7% γ-linolenic acid (GLA) of total fatty acids. The least investigated isolated oleaginous strain DSR1 was subjected to optimization of various growth parameters for exploiting its full lipid accumulation potential. Under optimized conditions in the fermentor, the strain DSR1 produced 14 ± 0.3 g L⁻¹ dry cell biomass with 42 ± 1.4% total lipid content. The major fatty acid composition of lipid confirmed by GC analysis was palmitic acid (14.7%), stearic acid (10.6%), oleic acid (37.4%), linoleic acid (20.6%), γ-linolenic acid (13.4%). This is the first report showing the oleaginous nature of G. persicaria and this isolate may be further exploited as a potential candidate for biodiesel and GLA production in larger-scale applications.

含油真菌在其干生物质中积累了大量的脂质，并且由于其在生物技术应用中的广泛潜力而引起了更多的关注。本研究旨在从选定的植物中分离和评估有效的产油内生真菌，然后优化潜在菌株的生长参数。总共分离出 51 种形态不同的真菌分离株，并检查了它们的产油特性。从初步筛选和发酵测定中，根据其脂肪酸谱中含有生物量或多不饱和脂肪酸的高脂质鉴定了 13 个真菌分离株。在我们的筛选过程中，真菌分离物被鉴定为灰白霉发现 DSR1 具有理想的特征，例如最高的细胞干生物量（12.7 g L ^-1）和脂质含量（生物量的 34.5%）以及总脂肪酸的 7% γ-亚麻酸 (GLA)。对研究最少的分离产油菌株 DSR1 进行了各种生长参数的优化，以充分利用其脂质积累潜力。在发酵罐中的优化条件下，菌株 DSR1 产生 14 ± 0.3 g L ^-1干细胞生物质，总脂质含量为 42 ± 1.4%。GC分析证实脂质的主要脂肪酸组成为棕榈酸（14.7%）、硬脂酸（10.6%）、油酸（37.4%）、亚油酸（20.6%）、γ-亚麻酸（13.4%）。这是第一份显示G. persicaria含油性质的报告 并且这种分离物可能会被进一步开发为大规模应用中生物柴油和 GLA 生产的潜在候选者。