Esterification activity of novel fungal and yeast lipases.

The main objective of this work was the isolation and screening of microorganisms with potential for producing lipases for the synthesis of fatty esters as well as evaluating the specificity of the enzymes produced, using different alcohols (methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, and butanol) and fatty acids (oleic and lauric acids) as substrates. Promising biocatalysts for organic synthesis were obtained in this work. The isolated strains 69F and 161Y showed ability to efficiently catalyze the reaction for production of n-propyl oleate. Other strains can also be considered of potential interest, as 74F, 111Y, and 186Y. The future development of production using different substrates could result in cheap crude lipase of high importance to industrial applicability.