ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we describe the recent progress in the breeding of commercially important arachidonic acid-producing Mortierella alpina strains, especially approaches for creating desaturase and elongase mutants with unique pathways for PUFA biosynthesis involving conventional chemical mutagenesis and modern molecular genetics. Such mutants are useful not only for the regulation and overproduction of valuable PUFA, but also as excellent models to elucidate fungal lipogenesis.
