A comparison of the oleaginous yeast, Candida curvata, grown on different carbon sources in continuous and batch culture

The oleaginous yeast,Candida curvata D, was grown in both batch and continuous culture on 5 different carbon sources to compare the efficiency of fat production from the various substrates. Maximum lipid accumulation occurred in batch culture with xylose as the carbon source on nitrogenlimited medium reaching a level of 49% (w/w) of the biomass, but this was reduced to 37% at the optimum dilution rate (D=0.05/hr) in a chemostat. Both the highest biomass and lipid yields were attained in continuous culture with lactose as the sole carbon source at a dilution rate of D=0.04/hr, giving an efficiency of substrate conversion of 60 g of biomass and 18.6 g lipid per 100 g lactose utilized. The relative proportions of the major fatty acids (16∶0, 18∶0, 18∶1, 18∶2) in the lipid were found to vary considerably in batch culture and in continuous culture under carbon‐limited conditions. However, on nitrogen‐limited media in the chemostat, the fatty acid composition remained relatively constant over the whole range of dilution rates employed. Lipid from xylose‐grown cells contained the greatest percentage of stearic acid (18∶0) 15% and the lowest linoleic acid (18∶2) 4%, whereas lipid from ethanol‐grown cells contained elevated levels of oleic acid (18∶1) 51% and decreased palmitic acid (16∶0) 25%.