Background Limonene is an important biologically active natural product widely used in the food, cosmetic, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. However, the low abundance of limonene in plants renders their isolation from plant sources non-economically viable. Therefore, engineering microbes into microbial factories for producing limonene is fast becoming an attractive alternative approach that can overcome the aforementioned bottleneck to meet the needs of industries and make limonene production more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Results In this proof-of-principle study, the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica was successfully engineered to produce both d-limonene and l-limonene by introducing the heterologous d-limonene synthase from Citrus limon and l-limonene synthase from Mentha spicata, respectively. However, only 0.124 mg/L d-limonene and 0.126 mg/L l-limonene were produced. To improve the limonene production by the engineered yeast Y. lipolytica strain, ten genes involved in the mevalonate-dependent isoprenoid pathway were overexpressed individually to investigate their effects on limonene titer. Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) was found to be the key rate-limiting enzyme in the mevalonate (MVA) pathway for the improving limonene synthesis in Y. lipolytica. Through the overexpression of HMGR gene, the titers of d-limonene and l-limonene were increased to 0.256 mg/L and 0.316 mg/L, respectively. Subsequently, the fermentation conditions were optimized to maximize limonene production by the engineered Y. lipolytica strains from glucose, and the final titers of d-limonene and l-limonene were improved to 2.369 mg/L and 2.471 mg/L, respectively. Furthermore, fed-batch fermentation of the engineered strains Po1g KdHR and Po1g KlHR was used to enhance limonene production in shake flasks and the titers achieved for d-limonene and l-limonene were 11.705 mg/L (0.443 mg/g) and 11.088 mg/L (0.385 mg/g), respectively. Finally, the potential of using waste cooking oil as a carbon source for limonene biosynthesis from the engineered Y. lipolytica strains was investigated. We showed that d-limonene and l-limonene were successfully produced at the respective titers of 2.514 mg/L and 2.723 mg/L under the optimal cultivation condition, where 70% of waste cooking oil was added as the carbon source, representing a 20-fold increase in limonene titer compared to that before strain and fermentation optimization. Conclusions This study represents the first report on the development of a new and efficient process to convert waste cooking oil into d-limonene and l-limonene by exploiting metabolically engineered Y. lipolytica strains for fermentation. The results obtained in this study lay the foundation for more future applications of Y. lipolytica in converting waste cooking oil into various industrially valuable products.

Summary The natural plant product bisabolene serves as a precursor for the production of a wide range of industrially relevant chemicals. However, the low abundance of bisabolene in plants renders its isolation from plant sources non‐economically viable. Therefore, creation of microbial cell factories for bisabolene production supported by synthetic biology and metabolic engineering strategies presents a more competitive and environmentally sustainable method for industrial production of bisabolene. In this proof‐of‐principle study, for the first time, we engineered the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica to produce α‐bisabolene, β‐bisabolene and γ‐bisabolene through heterologous expression of the α‐bisabolene synthase from Abies grandis, the β‐bisabolene synthase gene from Zingiber officinale and the γ‐bisabolene synthase gene from Helianthus annuus respectively. Subsequently, two metabolic engineering approaches, including overexpression of the endogenous mevalonate pathway genes and introduction of heterologous multidrug efflux transporters, were employed in order to improve bisabolene production. Furthermore, the fermentation conditions were optimized to maximize bisabolene production by the engineered Y. lipolytica strains from glucose. Finally, we explored the potential of the engineered Y. lipolytica strains for bisabolene production from the waste cooking oil. To our knowledge, this is the first report of bisabolene production in Y. lipolytica using metabolic engineering strategies. These findings provide valuable insights into the engineering of Y. lipolytica for a higher‐level production of bisabolene and its utilization in converting waste cooking oil into various industrially valuable products.

A GtfB enzyme 4,6-α-glucanotransferase from Streptococcus thermophilus lacking 761 N-terminal amino acids was heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. Purified S. thermophilus GtfB showed transglycosylation activities toward starch, resulting in branch points of (α1→6)-glycosidic linkages plus linear chains of (α1→4)-glycosidic linkages. After wheat starch was modified at a rate of 0.1 g/mL by 1-4 U/g starch GtfB at pH 6.0 and 40 °C for 1 h, the weight-averaged molecular weight decreased from 1.70 × 10 g/mol to 1.21 × 10 to 3.41 × 10 g/mol, the amylose content decreased from 22.07 to 16.34-17.11%, and that of amylopectin long-branch chains decreased from 26.4 to 10.25-15.64% ( P < 0.05). After the GtfB-modified wheat starches were gelatinized and stored at 4 °C for 1-2 weeks, their endothermic enthalpies were significantly lower than that of the control sample ( P < 0.05), indicating low retrogradation rates.

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