Labyrinthulid microorganism capable of producing microbial oil, microbial oil, methods for producing said microorganism and for producing said microbial oil, and uses of said microorganism and said microbial oil

Abstract

A method for producing a microbial oil includes steps of: genetically modifying a labyrinthulid by disrupting and/or silencing a gene, or by transforming another gene in addition to the disruption and/or gene silencing of the gene, and culturing the labyrinthulid, such that a fatty acid composition accumulated in the labyrinthulid comprises an increased EPA content; and collecting the microbial oil having the increased EPA content from the labyrinthulid. The labyrinthulid before the modification is selected from (A) a labyrinthulid belonging to the genus Parietichytrium or genus Schizochytrium and having very weak or no activity of producing PUFAs via a PUFA-PKS pathway; and (B) a labyrinthulid belonging to the genus Thraustochytrium in which a host PUFA-PKS gene is disrupted or silenced to a very weak level. The increased EPA content is preferably not less than 11.5% of a total fatty acid composition.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.