Improvement of lipid production from an oil-producing filamentous fungus, Penicillium brevicompactum NRC 829, through central composite statistical design

In the present study, 13 filamentous fungi were screened for their lipid production and an oleaginous fungus, Penicillium brevicompactum NRC 829, was found to be the highest lipid producer. Screening of various agro-industrial residues was performed and sunflower oil cake proved to be the best substrate for lipid production. A central composite design was employed to investigate the optimum concentrations of the most significant medium components required to improve the lipid production by P. brevicompactum. The results clearly revealed that the maximal lipid production of 8.014 +/- 0.06 gL(-1) (representing 57.6% lipid/dry biomass) was achieved by the fungus when grown for 6 days at 30 A degrees C under static condition in a medium containing sunflower oil cake, NaNO3 and KCl at final concentrations of 8, 0.75 and 0.25 gL(-1), respectively. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of P. brevicompactum lipid indicated that linoleic acid (LA) (C18:2-6, 9) was the most abundant fatty acid, accounting for up to 62% of the total fatty acid profile, followed by palmitoleic acid (C16:1, 16%) and linolenic acid (C18:3, 8%). These results suggest that P. brevicompactum NRC 829 may have potential for commercial development for the production of LA by fermentation using cheap raw material.