Systems-level approaches for understanding and engineering of the oleaginous cell factory Yarrowia lipolytica

Abstract

Concerns about climate change and the search for renewable energy sources together with the goal of attaining sustainable product manufacturing have boosted the use of microbial platforms to produce fuels and high-value chemicals. In this regard, Yarrowia lipolytica has been known as a promising yeast with potentials in diverse array of biotechnological applications such as being a host for different oleochemicals, organic acid, and recombinant protein production. Having a rapidly increasing number of molecular and genetic tools available, Y. lipolytica has been well studied amongst oleaginous yeasts and metabolic engineering has been used to explore its potentials. More recently, with the advancement in systems biotechnology and the implementation of mathematical modeling and high throughput omics data-driven approaches, in-depth understanding of cellular mechanisms of cell factories have been made possible resulting in enhanced rational strain design. In case of Y. lipolytica, these systems-level studies and the related cutting-edge technologies have recently been initiated which is expected to result in enabling the biotechnology sector to rationally engineer Y. lipolytica-based cell factories with favorable production metrics. In this regard, here, we highlight the current status of systems metabolic engineering research and assess the potential of this yeast for future cell factory design development.

Yarrowia lipolytica Strains and Their Biotechnological Applications: How Natural Biodiversity and Metabolic Engineering Could Contribute to Cell Factories Improvement

“…These systems-level approaches, implemented by high throughput omics data and mathematical modelling, are expected to provide an in-depth understanding of cellular processes for a more rational design of cell factories. The current status of systems metabolic engineering research in Y. lipolytica has been the subject of a very recent extensive review (presently online ahead of print) [ 304 ].…”

Insights into hydrophobic waste valorization for the production of value‐added oleochemicals

“…With the recent technological advancements, the genomes of the majority of microorganisms are sequenced and available on the public databases. A very first challenge is the limited or missing gene annotations of some important proteins in such microorganisms, and many of the proteins are currently annotated as hypothetical proteins, but instead, they might have a vital role in the metabolism process (Poorinmohammad & Kerkhoven, 2021). Recently novel genes encoding for extracellular lipases with unique class three features in the thraustochytrid species A. limacinum mh0186 were identified, cloned, and characterized using the comparative gene clustering method.…”