Enrichment of γ-linolenic acid in the lipid extracted from Mucor zychae MTCC 5420

The aim of this work was to study the enrichment of the Gamma linolenic acid (GLA) content of lipid extracted from Mucor zychae by employing a low-temperature urea crystallization process. GLA, a polyunsaturated fatty acid has been reported to have many health benefits and has potential implications in food and pharmaceutical industry. Lipids extracted from the mycelia of fermented broth were transesterfied and analysed by gas chromatography. Results showed that the fungal oil contained (%) myristic acid (1.2), palmitic acid (35.3), palmitoleic acid (3.7), stearic acid (2.7), oleic acid (39.2), linoleic acid (6.4) and gamma linolenic acid (8.7). After the first step of crystallization, the percentage of GLA enriched in the total lipid was increased to 63.5. The concentration of GLA further increased when the enriched lipid sample was subjected to urea crystallization for the second time. GLA percentage increased from 63.5 to 92.7, and recovery of GLA was 63%. By altering the ratio of fatty acid ethyl ester:urea, the concentration characteristics and the recovery of GLA also varied; highest recovery of GLA (69%) was obtained when, the above ratio was 1:3. Furthermore, GLA recovery was in considerable amounts at 0 °C crystallization.