Tailored oils
View Patent ↗Recombinant DNA techniques are used to produce oleaginous recombinant cells that produce triglyceride oils having desired fatty acid profiles and regiospecific or stereospecific profiles. Genes manipulated include those encoding stearoyl-ACP desaturase, delta 12 fatty acid desaturase, acyl-ACP thioesterase, ketoacyl-ACP synthase, and lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase. The oil produced can have enhanced oxidative or thermal stability, or can be useful as a frying oil, shortening, roll-in shortening, tempering fat, cocoa butter replacement, as a lubricant, or as a feedstock for various chemical processes. The fatty acid profile can be enriched in midchain profiles or the oil can be enriched in triglycerides of the saturated-unsaturated-saturated type.
1. A method of producing an oil comprising:
(a) cultivating a recombinant cell of the genus Prototheca or Chlorella under conditions to produce said oil, said recombinant cell having a knockout or knockdown of a FATA acyl-ACP thioesterase (FATA) gene, and expressing an oleoyl-preferring lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase (LPAAT) gene; and
(b) extracting said oil from said recombinant cell;
wherein said oil comprises at least 50% stearate-oleate-stearate (SOS) triglycerides.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said oil comprises at least 60% SOS triglycerides.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said oil has a viscosity of less than 30 cS and optionally of 25 cS±20% at 40° C. as measured by ASTM D445.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said oil comprises at least 70% SOS triglycerides.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said LPAAT gene encodes a protein with at least 90% amino acid sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 157.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said recombinant cell is of the genus Prototheca.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said recombinant cell is a Prototheca moriformis cell.