Effective screening media for biodegradation of oleic acid by Aspergillus niger

Abstract

To investigate oleic acid biodegradation, 7 strains of Aspergillus niger were tested with 3 different types of Czapex-Dox broth (CzDB) medium containing oleic acid, and their metabolic abilities to decompose the fatty acid into carbon dioxide and water were compared. When the fungal strains were grown in the CzDB media with both 14C-labeled and non-labeled oleic acid, A. niger YMC 0100 and YMC 0322 oxidized more than 58% of the supplied substrate within 72 h. The addition of saccharose as an additional carbon source substantially reduced the biodegradation of oleic acid to the point that all the strains showed less than 4% degradation.