A novel lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase for soybean oil refining provides higher yields and extra nutritional value with a cleaner process

• Published in: Applied microbiology and biotechnology Vol. 104; no. 17; pp. 7521 - 7532
• Main Authors: Hails, Guillermo, Cerminati, Sebastián, Paoletti, Luciana, Cabrera, Rodolfo, Peirú, Salvador, Aguirre, Andrés, Castelli, María E., Menzella, Hugo G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.09.2020; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acyltransferase; Aeromonas; Biofuels; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnologically Relevant Enzymes and Proteins; Biotechnology; Chemical properties; Cholesterol; Commercialization; Crude oil; Degumming; E coli; Enzymes; Escherichia coli; Lecithin; Lecithins; Life Sciences; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbiology; Nutritive Value; Petroleum refining; Phospholipase; Phospholipase A; Phospholipids; Phytosterols; Processing industry; Production processes; Refining; Soy oil; Soybean Oil; Soybeans; Sterol O-Acyltransferase; Sterols; Transferases; Vegetable oils; Argentina; Edible oil waste; Enzymatic degumming; Edible oil refining; Lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferases
• ISSN: 0175-7598; 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/s00253-020-10786-7

The growing demand for food and biofuels urges the vegetable oil processing industry to adopt cleaner technologies to mitigate the environmental pollution caused by chemical refining processes. Over the past decade, several enzymatic methods have proven to be efficient at reducing the generated waste, but improving the benefit-cost ratio is still necessary for the widespread adoption of this technology. In this work, we show that lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase from Aeromonas enteropelogenes (LCAT AE ) provides a higher extra-yield of soybean oil than a type A1 phospholipase (PLA) enzyme currently commercialized for soybean oil deep degumming. Our model indicates that crude soybean oil treated with the new enzyme generates 87% more neutral oil from phospholipids than the widely used PLA, with the corresponding reduction in waste and byproducts generation. The refined oil retains the phytosterols naturally present in crude oil, enriching its nutritional value. The results presented here position LCAT AE as a promising candidate to provide the green solutions needed by the industrial oil processing sector. Key points • Selected LCAT gene candidates were expressed in E. coli. • Aeromonas enteropelogenes LCAT hydrolyzes all the phospholipids present in crude soybean oil. • The LCAT enzyme provides a higher yield of neutral oil than commercial PLA enzymes and generates less waste. • The degummed oil retains sterols with high nutritional value.