Engineered Yarrowia lipolytica Produces Biodiesel from Raw Starch

Yarrowia lipolytica has emerged as a potential organism for the production of biolipids as it accumulates high amounts of lipids from glucose. Starch is one of the most abundant carbohydrates in nature. However, Y. lipolytica lacks the capacity to breakdown this polymer, thus requiring expensive enzymatic and/or physical pretreatments.

Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique in France expressed alpha-amylase and glucoamylase enzymes in Y. lipolytica. The modified strains were able to grow on starch as its sole carbon source and produce certain amount of lipids.

The researchers then expressed both enzymes in an engineered strain capable of overaccumulating lipids. The engineered strain was able to produce up to 5.7 times more lipids than the first modified strain. Analysis revealed that the properties of a biodiesel produced by this strain from raw starch would fit the standards.

The results showed that lipid production from starch can be enhanced by both metabolic engineering and culture condition optimization.