Correa & Atehortúa: Journal of aoaC InternatIonal Vol. 95, no. 4, 2012 1161 Lipid Profle of In Vitro Oil Produced Through Cell Culture of Jatropha curcas Sandra M. Correa and LuCía atehortúa Universidad de Antioquia, Department of Biotechnology, Sede de Investigaciones Universitarias (SIU), Tower 1-210, Calle 62 No. 52-59, A.A. 1226, Medellin, Colombia Received December 10, 2010. Accepted by AH November 15, 2011. Corresponding authors’ e-mails: sandramarcelacorrea@hotmail.com and latehor@gmail.com DOI: 10.5740/jaoacint.10-489 MICROBIOLOGICAL METHODS Recent increases in energy demands as a consequence of population growth and industrialization, and pollution caused during the extraction and combustion of fossil fuel sources have driven the development of new energy sources that do not cause pollution and are inexpensive and renewable. Consequently, it is necessary to develop alternative ways of generating biofuels that put less pressure on agricultural lands and water supplies, and ensure ecosystems conservation. In order to achieve the proposed goals related to energetic coverage and independence, several approaches have been developed, including biodiesel production using vegetal oils as feedstock. The aim of the current research project was to apply a nonconventional bioprocess for in vitro biomass and oil production of Jatropha curcas, for assessing different J. curcas varieties, where seed tissue was isolated and used for callus induction. Once friable callus was obtained, cell suspension cultures were established. The cell viability, fatty acid content, and characteristics were used to select the most promising cell line according to its fatty acid profle and ability to grow and develop under in vitro conditions. Oil produced by cell suspension culture of the Jatropha varieties studied was extracted and characterized by GC/MS. Differences encountered among Jatropha varieties were related to their fatty acid profles, oil content (% on dry basis), and cell viability measurements (%). P lant oils have been used by humans since ancient times as a source of heat and light, and food and feed. Plant oils are obtained from seeds of different plant species, which are selected and cultivated to obtain high yields and improved nutritional properties. In general and with few exceptions (waxes and jojoba oil), plant oils consist mainly of triacylglycerol (TAG) esters containing three fatty acids (FAS) with chain lengths varying from C8 to C24, with C16 and C18 the most common. The number of FAS that are common to all plants is relatively low, represented by the saturated FAS palmitic acid (C16:0) and stearic acid (C18:0), and the unsaturated FAS oleic acid (C18:1), linoleic acid (C18:2) and a-linolenic acid (C18:3). Higher plants also display an enormous variation and diversity in the FAS they synthesize, which are estimated at more than 300 different types (1). The oil obtained from domesticated oilseed crops has been used primarily for nutritional applications, but in recent years, has also been increasingly used as raw material for biofuel production and chemical feedstocks, because TAGs produced by plants are one of the most energy-rich and abundant forms of reduced carbon available from nature (2). As bioproducts they are chemically the most similar to fossil oil, and therefore, have great potential to replace it in different chemical industries. Many other aspects have also called the attention to the use of plant oils as sources for energy production, such as the need for energy independence, since oil demands are higher than the reserves concentrated in certain regions of the world. Equally important is the ecological awareness of climate change caused by pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which increases the need to fnd alternatives (renewable fuels), such as plant biomass, that do not contribute to GHG emissions and are environmentally friendly. Among the renewable energy sources, plant oils have been extensively studied for biodiesel production and have been proposed as fuel for automobile engines since the beginning of 19th century by Rudolph Diesel (3, 4). Early demonstrations in which diesel engines ran with vegetal oils refected the fact that plant-derived TAG and petroleum fuels are chemically similar, with structures consisting largely of chains of reduced carbons. Biodiesel can be produced from renewable vegetable oils including rapeseed, canola, soybean, sunfower, and palm oils. Animal fats and recycled cooking oils can also be used. Although the use of waste oils as feedstock can lower costs signifcantly, complicated procedures are needed to remove impurities, resulting in high operating costs (5). Other various vegetal oil sources are almond, andiroba, coconut, J. curcas, microalgae, wheat, rubber seed, silk cotton tree, mahua, and neem (6–8). Biodiesel derived from vegetal oil is gaining acceptance because of several important measures: biodiesel blends perform better than petroleum diesel because the higher oxygenated state compared to conventional diesel leads to lower carbon monoxide (CO) production and reduced emission of particulate matter (9); biodiesel contains little or no sulfur or aromatic compounds, has higher fashpoint, faster biodegradation, and greater lubricity; and most important, biodiesel is a sustainable source of liquid transportation fuels (1). Additionally, compared to other renewable liquid fuels, such as ethanol, it possesses a higher energy content per volume (25% higher than ethanol), does not lead to corrosion of pipelines, and does not require additional fermentation steps. However, despite so many favorable aspects, biodiesel still Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jaoac/article/95/4/1161/5655188 by guest on 02 February 2023