Increasing concentration of histidine significantly increased stearidonic acid production and cell growth in oleaginous Saccharomyces cerevisiae that has been genetically modified by Delta snf2 disruption, DGA1 and Delta 6 desaturase gene overexpression, and LEU2 expression. High concentration of histidine in wild-type transformant and HIS3 expression in Delta snf2 transformant also increased stearidonic acid. (C) 2013, The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. All rights reserved.