Linoleic acid enrichment of cheese by okara flour and Geotrichum candidum overexpressing Δ12 fatty acid desaturase

BACKGROUND Mold‐ripened cheeses have low levels of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs). Geotrichum candidum is an adjunct culture for the development of Geotrichum‐ripened cheese but has a low ability to produce high levels of UFAs. Δ12 fatty acid desaturase (FADS12) is a pivotal enzyme that converts oleic acid (OA) to linoleic acid (LA) and plays a vital role in UFA biosynthesis. By investigating FADS12 catalytic activity from various species with OA substrates, we found that FADS12 from Mucor circinelloides (McFADS12) had the highest catalytic activity for OA. RESULTS In the current study, a plasmid harboring McFADS12 was constructed and overexpressed in G. candidum. Our results showed that LA production increased to 31.1 ± 1.4% in engineered G. candidum – three times higher than that in wild‐type G. candidum. To enhance LA production, an exogenous substrate (OA) was supplemented, and the yield of LA was increased to 154 ± 6 mg L−1 in engineered G. candidum. Engineered G. candidum was used as an adjunct culture for Geotrichum‐ripened cheese production. The LA level reached 74.3 ± 5.4 g kg−1 cheese, whereas the level of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) decreased by 9.9 ± 0.5%. In addition, the soybean byproduct (okara) was introduced into the engineered G. candidum growth and the level of LA increased to 126 ± 4 g kg−1 cheese and the percentage of UFAs:SFAs increased from 0.8:1 to 1.3:1. CONCLUSION This study offers a suitable technology for converting SFAs to UFAs in Geotrichum‐ripened cheeses and provides a novel trend for converting soybean waste into a value‐added product. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.