TITLE:
Identity and Safety of a Novel Aurantiochytrium sp. for Terrestrial Heterotrophic Docosahexaenoic Acid Production
AUTHORS:
Andrew Norman William Bell, Colm Anthony Moran
KEYWORDS:
Thraustochytrid, Docosahexaenoic Acid, Fatty Acids, Aurantiochytrium limacinum, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration, Antimicrobial Resistance
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Vol.11 No.12,
December
31,
2020
ABSTRACT: The objective of the studies in this paper was to
expand on the published toxicological assessment of Aurantiochytrium limacinum (AURA) with further
strain characterization and to investigate the potential for the biomass or
extracted oil to have antimicrobial properties or undesirable substances. AURA
is being investigated as a novel source of the omega-3 long-chain
polyunsaturated fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) for enriching foods of
animal origin by means of feed supplementation. In the first studies, we provided the 18S rRNA
identification of the novel marine isolated thraustochytrid, established the
nutritional composition of AURA biomass for application as a food or feed
ingredient including proximate analysis and fatty acid profiling, and confirmed
the DHA production potential of the strain. We determined through minimum
inhibitory concentration (MIC) analysis that the unextracted AURA biomass was
safe, showing no antimicrobial influence and no evidence of any deleterious
effects of this product or its extracts at concentrations up to 1% w/w on the
reference human intestinal bacteria tested. This would indicate that AURA should not
stimulate selective pressure on the commensal microbiota and is therefore
unlikely to aid development of antimicrobial resistance and the concomitant
harm to humans and animals. Further analysis revealed that the AURA biomass
produced through industrial heterotrophic fermentation was free from
undesirables; toxic marine microalgal metabolites, heavy metals, pesticides,
microbial contaminants, and mycotoxins. Including heterotrophically-grown AURA
in food or feed, up to 1% w/w, is a safe and environmentally beneficial
strategy for DHA supplementation.