Abstract: A method of directly microbially converting a plant oil, an animal fat, free fatty acid, or a combination thereof to wax esters includes growing a yeast or bacterial strain in a medium comprising the plant oil, the animal fat, the free fatty acid, or combination thereof, under conditions suitable to produce the wax esters, wherein the yeast or bacterial strain is engineered to express a FAR gene encoding fatty acid alcohol reductase and a WS gene encoding a wax ester synthase, and optionally isolating the produced wax esters. Similar methods of directly microbially converting a plant oil, an animal fat, free fatty acid, or a combination thereof to omega-3 fatty acids by growing a microorganism in a medium comprising the plant oil, the animal fat, the free fatty acid, or combination thereof, under conditions suitable to produce omega-3 fatty acids are also described.