Fatty acid production from butter using novel cutinase-displaying yeast

We used cutinase from the filamentous fungi Aspergillus oryzae to produce dairy flavors. Secretory and displayed forms of cutinase were investigated using salt-free butter, which is composed mostly of triacylglycerides, as the substrate. The secretory form of cutinase, which was produced in recombinant A. oryzae, was suitable for producing butyric acids (16.8 mol%). Also, cutinase displayed on the cell surface of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a fusion protein with α-agglutinin released butyric acid at a 2.7-fold rate (45.4 mol%) higher than that of the secreted form. Yeasts carrying two copies of cutinase genes into their chromosomes, which were constructed using the HELOH method, released free fatty acids rapidly and showed 2-fold higher lipase activity compared with yeasts carrying one copy of the cutinase gene.