Patent ID: 7582451

Claim:
A method for producing lipids lacking pigmentation from a biosynthetic process, comprising culturing under conditions effective to produce said lipids from microorganisms of the order Thraustochytriales, wherein said microorganisms have been genetically modified to selectively delete or inactivate a carotene synthase gene, wherein said carotene synthase gene comprises a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of: a. a nucleic acid sequence encoding SEQ ID NO:3; and b. a nucleic acid sequence encoding an amino acid sequence having at least 85% identity to SEQ ID NO:3, wherein a protein having said amino acid sequence has a biological activity selected from the group consisting of phytoene dehydrogenase (PD) activity, phytoene synthase (PS) activity, and lycopene cyclase (LC) activity.