ABSTRACT
Fungal cultures were isolated from soil samples collected from the Western Ghats regions of Kerala. Primary screening of isolated strains were done by Sudan black staining method and 15 lipid producing cultures were isolated. The fatty acid profiling of the positive strains were analyzed for docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) production. Selected oleaginous cultures were grown in submerged culture condition to study the biomass yield and poly unsaturated fatty acid, DHA production. The optimization of production process under submerged conditions was carried out using statistical experimental design and confirmation of DHA was done by GC analysis. Maximum DHA production of 150 mg/l was achieved on 4 days of incubation at submerged condition in the presence of glucose as carbon source.