[Relationship between continuous cultivation conditions and the lipid composition of Hansenual polymorpha]

The effect of temperature, pH, and specific growth rate on the composition of fatty acids and lipid classes was studied in the thermotolerant yeast Hansenula polymorpha grown in the chemostat in a medium with methanol. The fatty acid composition of lipids was found to change depending on the conditions of cultivation: the degree of unsaturation of fatty acids increased when the growth temperature decreased; the proportion of linoleic acid in the lipids increased with the specific growth rate of the yeast and with the pH of the medium. The composition of lipid classes also depended on the cultivation conditions. Therefore, it is possible to find such a regime for cultivating the yeast that would be optimal for the accumulation of particular lipid classes.