Several species of soil fungi, belonging to the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, Paecilomyces, Trichoderma, Cladosporium and Stachybotrys could utilize caprylic, myristic, palmitic, stearic and oleic acids, as well as their sodium salts, as sole sources of carbon and energy. None of the fungal isolates showed any particular specificity to a given fatty acid. Only the caprylic acid utilizers grew poorly, otherwise the growth was fair to abundant. The optimal fatty acid concentration for fungal growth was 10 g l−1. Growth yields were comparable with those on glucose. The optimal pH values were in the region of neutrality and the isolates could tolerate high acidity. Lipids from fungi grown on fatty acids or their sodium salts contained free fatty acids as the predominant lipid class. Such lipids were much richer in arachidonic acid than those from the same fungi grown on glucose. Fungi that contained the highest levels of arachidonic acid were those grown on myristic and palmitic acids, namely Aspergillus versicolor and Aspergillus ustus, respectively.
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