Fatty Acid and Carotenoid Production by Sporobolomyces ruberrimus when Using Technical Glycerol and Ammonium Sulfate

The production of carotenoids, lipid content, and fatty acid composition were all studied in a strain of Sporobolomyces ruberrimus when using different concentrations of technical glycerol as the carbon source and ammonium sulfate as the nitrogen source. The total lipids represented an average of 13% of the dry weight, and the maximum lipids were obtained when using 65.5 g/l technical glycerol (133.63 mg/g). The optimal conditions for fatty acid production were at 27℃ using 20 g of ammonium sulfate and a pH range from 6 to 7, which produced a fatty acid yield of 32.5±1 mg/g, including 1.27±0.15 mg of linolenic acid (LNA), 7.50±0.45 mg of linoleic acid (LLA), 5.50±0.35 mg of palmitic acid (PA), 0.60±0.03 mg of palmitoleic acid (PAL), 1.28±0.11 mg of stearic acid (SA), 9.09±0.22 mg of oleic acid, 2.50±0.10 mg of erucic acid (EA), and 4.25±0.20 mg of lignoceric acid (LCA), where the palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids combined formed about 37% of the total fatty acids.