Involvement of acyl coenzyme A oxidase isozymes in biotransformation of methyl ricinoleate into gamma-decalactone by Yarrowia lipolytica.

ABSTRACT We reported previously on the function of acyl coenzyme A (acyl-CoA) oxidase isozymes in the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica by investigating strains disrupted in one or several acyl-CoA oxidase-encoding genes ( POX1 through POX5 ) (H. Wang et al., J. Bacteriol. 181:5140–5148, 1999). Here, these mutants were studied for lactone production. Monodisrupted strains produced similar levels of lactone as the wild-type strain (50 mg/liter) except for Δ pox3 , which produced 220 mg of γ-decalactone per liter after 24 h. The Δ pox2 Δpox3 double-disrupted strain, although slightly affected in growth, produced about 150 mg of lactone per liter, indicating that Aox2p was not essential for the biotra…