Patent ID: 7749703

Claim:
A method for the production of linoleic acid comprising: a) providing a microbial host cell, wherein the microbial host cell is Yarrowia , comprising: (i) a chimeric gene encoding a Δ12 desaturase polypeptide selected from the group consisting of: (a) an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide having Δ12 desaturase activity wherein the polypeptide has at least 90% sequence identity when compared to an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:24, and (b) an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide having Δ12 desaturase activity, wherein the nucleic acid molecule hybridizes with a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:23 under the following hybridization conditions: 0.1×SSC, 0.1% SDS, 65° C. and washed with 2×SSC, 0.1% SDS followed by 0.1×SSC, 0.1% SDS; and (ii) a source of desaturase substrate consisting of oleic acid; b) growing the microbial host cell of step (a) under conditions wherein the gene encoding a Δ12 desaturase polypeptide is expressed and the oleic acid is converted to linoleic acid; and c) optionally recovering the linoleic acid of step (b).