Harnessing Yarrowia metabolism to generate high value terpenoids

Lutein, a pigmented carotenoid with antioxidant effects, is extensively used in food and animal feed. Naturally, it is produced in different plants and algae. Animals, including humans, do not synthetase its own lutein, however, this compound is essential for health.

At the moment lutein for food & feed or pharmaceutical usage is extracted from marigold flowers (Tagetes spp.), where it is accumulated in low amounts and which requires a vast amount of land and fertilisers, making it a very expensive product. So far, an efficient biotechnological production process does not exist. The aim of the project is to develop, for the first time, the production of lutein using engineered microorganisms.

Using state of the art synthetic biology methods for genome engineering we will transfer the capacity to synthesise lutein from plants to the in industrial yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. The production will be further optimised by screening different combination of plant genes in order to find the right balance of them that leads to high amounts of this valuable compound.

The strains harbouring the best combinations, therefore the best producers, will be studied in industrial-like conditions using bioreactors, where the production can be optimised and maximised. In addition, we will explore the capacity to produce lutein using waste streams from other industries (i. e. Glycerol from biodiesel production), which will help to develop a circular process and to reduce generated waste.

The project will be done in close collaboration between the group of Dr Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro from Imperial College London and Acies Bio, one of the leading industrial biotech companies specialised in the development of new strains and bioprocesses.