Preparation and Characterization of Oil Rich in Odd Chain Fatty Acids from Rhodococcus opacus PD630

Odd-chain fatty acids (OCFA) are widely used in pharmaceutical and food industries, as well as the chemical industry. In this study, oil rich in OCFA was produced by Rhodococcus opacus PD630, and 1-propanol in combination with glucose was used as the carbon and energy source. Oil was extracted by the subcritical extraction system. Gas chromatography (GC), ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to evaluate the fatty acids composition, triacylglycerol (TAG) molecular species, and thermal properties, respectively. It was found that the content of OCFA reached 68.15%, where pentadecanoic acid (7.74%), heptadecanoic acid (18.20%), and heptadecenoic acid (42.71%) were the dominant OCFA. The most abundant TAG were HePaHa (15.82%), HePHa (11.42%), HePaHe (9.68%), HeHaHa (9.62%), HePaO (8.26%), and HePPa (8.00%). In terms of thermal profiles, recrystallization was detected in the oil rich in OCFA. Above all, these findings greatly extend the utilization of the microbial oil rich in OCFA, and they may have a significant impact on the future development of the microbial oil industry.