Yarrowia lipolytica is one of the most extensively studied ‘‘non-conventional’’ yeasts that attracts great interests from both academia and industry. It is also a nonpathogenic organism with several industrial applications classified as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by FDA. Y. lipolytica can grow on a wide ranges of carbon sources such as glucose, fructose, glycerol, ethanol, plant oils, and animal fats to make value-added products for various industrial applications. Typical products include lipids for biodiesels, long-chain diacids (LCDAs) for high-performance nylons, wax esters for biolubricants, carotenoids and omega-3 fatty acids for nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals.
Our goal is to build a new Y. lipolytica technology platform that can 1) efficiently use renewable and economical feedstocks, 2) produce a series of high-value products at high titer, rate, and yield, 3) tolerate stressful conditions in large-scale bioreactors, and 4) be suitable for continuous biomanufacturing under commercially achievable conditions. Research efforts will include both metabolic engineering and fermentation engineering.
The United States produces more than 20 million tons of plant oils and animal fats, a value that is about twice as much as total sugar production. While sugars such as glucose are used to make various value-added biomanufacturing products, oils and fats are mainly used for food and feed applications, which generate very limited economic values. Our long-term goal is to establish a new biomanufacturing platform that uses waste oils or fats as feedstocks to replace sugars to make a series of high-value products. Both yeast and bacteria can be engineered to achieve this goal.
