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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #240866
Title: Bioconverted Products of Essential Fatty Acids as Potential Antimicrobial Agents

Author
item BAJPAI, VIVEK - Daegu University
item KIM, HAK RYUL - Kyungpook National University
item Hou, Ching
item KANG, SUN CHUL - Daegu University

Submitted to: New Biotechnology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/2/2009
Publication Date: 1/15/2010
Citation: Bajpai, V.K., Kim, H., Hou, C.T., Kang, S. 2010. Bioconverted products of essential fatty acids as potential antimicrobial agents. New Biotechnology. 26(3/4):122-130.

Interpretive Summary: The United States has a large amount of surplus soybean oil annually, and using vegetable oils or their component fatty acids as starting material provides a new opportunity for bioindustry. In this review, we discussed the use of new biotechnology to produce value-added products such as new oxygenated fatty acids from vegetable oils based on our own studies. Oxygenated fatty acids can be used not only as specialty chemicals, but also as bioactive compounds such as antimicrobial agents. We discovered earlier that a newly isolated microbial strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa PR3 can convert unsaturated fatty acid to various oxygenated fatty acids. Many of these bioconverted-fatty acids products exhibited antibacterial and antiplant pathogenic fungal activities. Possible applications of these bioconverted fatty acid products in other areas are also discussed. Fat and oil represent an area with tremendous opportunity for new biotechnology to explore. Success in these types of studies will benefit farmers, specialty chemical companies, biomedical companies and the U.S. agricultural community.

Technical Abstract: This review deals with the recent findings on the microbial conversion of essential fatty acids (EFAs) through Pseudomonas aeruginosa PR3 NRRL-B-18602, and the antimicrobial properties of bioconverted essential fatty acids, with particular emphasis on n-3 or n-6 fatty acids. The first section deals with the most recent and some background literature on what have been the latest developments with respect to bioconverted essential fatty acids as potential antibacterial agents, in particular the inhibition of severe foodborne and food spoilage bacteria causing deleterious effects in food and human beings. The second section of the review deals with the inhibition of certain important plant pathogenic fungi through the bioconverted essential fatty acids which cause drastic losses to food and agriculture industries. Also we have given emphasis through the literature on the importance of microbial bioconversion of essential fatty acids along with their possible applications in various beneficial fields.