Abstract
Using microorganisms as lipid-production factories holds promise as an alternative method for generating petroleum-based chemicals. The non-conventional yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is an excellent microbial chassis; for example, it can accumulate high levels of lipids and use a broad range of substrates. Furthermore, it is a species for which an array of efficient genetic engineering tools is available. To date, extensive work has been done to metabolically engineer Y. lipolytica to produce usual and unusual lipids. Unusual lipids are scarce in nature but have several useful applications. As a result, they are increasingly becoming the targets of metabolic engineering. Unusual lipids have distinct structures; they can be generated by engineering endogenous lipid synthesis or by introducing heterologous enzymes to alter the functional groups of fatty acids. In this review, we describe current metabolic engineering strategies for improving lipid production and highlight recent researches on unusual lipid production in Y. lipolytica.
Highlights
Microbial lipids are promising alternative fuel sources given growing concerns about climate change and environmental pollution [1,2,3,4]
Great strides have been made in using this non-conventional yeast, thanks to extensive research into lipid metabolism and the development of metabolic engineering tools
This review discussed the diverse unusual lipids that have been produced in Y. lipolytica via metabolic engineering
Summary
Microbial lipids are promising alternative fuel sources given growing concerns about climate change and environmental pollution [1,2,3,4]. Using microbes to produce unusual lipids may serve as an environmentally sustainable and economically viable alternative [3,7,8]; for example, such lipids are naturally generated in a more finalized form because the need for chemical processes is reduced or avoided during manufacturing [3]. When it comes to the production of oleochemicals, oleaginous chassis display the clear advantage of accumulating larger quantities of lipids (>20% of dry cell weight (DCW)). We describe different approaches for producing specific unusual lipids, such as engineering the endogenous lipid synthesis system or introducing heterologous enzymes
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