Using fermentation, University of Alberta researchers have come up with a way to produce higher amounts of a healthy fatty acid found mainly in pomegranates.
Working with baker's yeast that initially contained none, they developed a new strain containing high levels of punicic acid, offering a sustainable way to produce both the value-added fatty acid and yeast biomass a supplemental protein source used in food and animal feed industries with additional health benefits.
"This means we could produce this high-value lipid much more quickly and economically in the future, without needing to use arable land, and it also shows how we can develop and nutritionally enhance sustainable sources of specialty oil," says study co-author Guanqun (Gavin) Chen, associate professor in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences and Canada Research Chair in Plant Lipid Biotechnology.
