Marine yeasts from coastal waters of Kokan (India), as a promising source of polyunsaturated fatty acids.

The interest in screening new sources of essential fatty acids is continuously growing. Poly Unsaturated Fatty acids (PUFAs) play a key role in eukaryotic metabolism. Marine microbes are competent organisms, some of which can accumulate large amounts of lipids and have been reported as promising source of medicinally and nutritionally important fats. Earlier studies indicate that amongst the oleaginous microorganisms yeasts are more promising in lipid accumulation than bacteria and microalgae. The present investigation was aimed to isolate oleaginous, PUFA producing marine yeasts. Yeasts were isolated from marine waters collected from Konkan coasts of India and maintained on Basal agar (BA) slants as well as 20% Glycerol stocks. Out of the 54 isolates, the fast growing 09 yeasts were selected and studied further for oleagenecity and PUFA production. These selected isolates were characterized for morphological, cultural, physiological properties and identified by sequencing of 18s r DNA genes. The studied yeasts belonged to six different Genera, Pichia, Cryptococcus, Kodmera, Zylyanoides with promising PUFA producers Candida, Rhodotorula