Purpose: The benefits of natural compounds have been studied for decades for the
development of new technologies to answer the global change challenges. In order to
develop these new technologies, lipids represent a great class of bioactive molecules.
However, the research on lipids and their applications still present gaps about new sources
as well as on the extraction methods. Filamentous fungi found in Antarctic territory could
represent a new source of novel bioactive lipids. Currently Folch, Bligh & Dyer and Lewis
methods are the most widely employed for extraction of lipid from different sample types.
Nonetheless, choosing a single extraction method as the gold standard could represent a
limitation, especially when the microorganism has not been studied yet. Taking the above
into consideration, the main objective of the present study was to evaluate the best
extraction method to obtain lipids from different Antarctic filamentous fungal genera.
Material and methods: Three isolates of Antarctic fungi belonging to each genus: Mucor,
Mortierella, Cladosporium, Penicillium and Pseudogymnoascus isolates from Fildes Bay,
Antarctica, were evaluated. A total of 15 isolates were assessed. Folch, Bligh & Dyer and
Lewis extraction method were performed. Extraction was monitored by recording spectra of
FT-IR spectroscopy of the biomass before and after lipid extraction.
Results: Folch was the best method to obtain lipids from filamentous Antarctic fungi,
followed by Lewis extraction. Among the three extraction methods evaluated, Bligh & Dyer
was the method that presented the lowest yield, compared to Folch and Lewis for each genus
and strain. Strains of the genera Mortierella and Mucor were the ones that showed the best
performance for the Folch and Lewis methods. The three Penicillium isolates were the third
group with the best lipids yield for the Folch method. The strains of genera Cladosporium
and Pseudogymnoascus showed better yields for the Lewis method.
Conclusions: In this study it was observed that the lipids yield varies according to the
extraction methods, as well as both the fungal isolate and fungal genus. Depending on the
purpose and fungi taxa, to obtain lipids from Antarctic fungi Folch or Lewis extraction
methods are recommended.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
