Yarrowia lipolytica

Technical Data

Type of microorganism	Yeast
Microorganism name	Yarrowia lipolytica
Temperature range	28-30°C (Jach & Malm, 2022)
pH range	pH 5.5 (Jach & Malm, 2022) pH 3.5 on certain waste substrates (rye, oat, glycerol) (Jach & Malm, 2022)
Carbon and nitrogen source	Glucose & formic acid as C source, ammonia as N source (Van Winden et al., 2022) Glucose, (NH4)2SO4 (Groposila-Constantinescu et al., 2015) Glycerol, (NH4)2SO4 (Juszczyk et al., 2013)
Growth rate (µ)	0.14-0.16/h (Miranda et al., 2024)
Companies (product)	Skotan (Onesano)
Wild-type or GMO	Wild-type
Feedstock case studies (suitable substrates)	Rye straw, biofuel waste, rye brans, oat brans, industrial raw oil waste with glycerol, waste glycerol with degumming from rapeseed oil, raw rapeseed oil, industrial glycerol, soy bean cake hydrolysate, industrial derivative of tallow (Jach & Malm, 2022) Eucalyptus bark hydrolysate (Dias et al., 2024)
% SCP (w/w percentage of protein in dried biomass)	46.7% on glycerol on lab scale in biofermentor (Michalik et al., 2013) 43.0% on raw gycerol as substrate on lab scale in bioreactor (Juszczyk et al., 2013)
cell biomass dry weight (CDW) = biomass yield? (g/L or g/g?) (weight of biomass/total weight or volume)	53% (w/w) on glucose and formic acid on pilot scale (Van Winden et al., 2022) 1.23% (w/v) on raw gycerol as substrate on lab scale in bioreactor (Juszczyk et al., 2013)
Protein content in final product	42% (w/w) for dry yeast sold by Skotan as feed additive
Protein titer (g/L or g/g?) grams of protein / total weight or volume	0.529% (w/v) (own calculation based on Juszczyk et al., (2013)) on raw gycerol as substrate on lab scale in bioreactor
Productivity (g/Lh)	1.37 on raw gycerol as substrate on lab scale in bioreactor (Juszczyk et al., 2013)
Protein yield on C-source (% w/w)	52% (w/w) on raw glycerol as substrate on lab scale in bioreactor (Juszczyk et al., 2013)
Scale	From lab scale to industrial scale (Skotan)
Downstream purification processing complexity	Centrifugation step to isolate, followed by heat treatment to inactivate the yeast. Overall minimal downstream processing. (Jach et al., 2017)
Nucleic acid content	5.8-6,4% in lag- and log-phase, but only 0.4% at the end of stationary phase (Jach et al., 2017)
Techno-functional and/or nutritional properties (e.g. meat-like texture, amino acid profile, digestibility)	High protein content (all amino acids present). Low levels of sulphur containing amino acids (Jach et al., 2017) Good source of vitamins, especially B-complex group. (Jach & Malm, 2022) High amount of fats (20% w/w) of which 90% is polyunsaturated. High digestibility (Michalik et al., 2013)
Target application (Food, feed, other)	Primarily used in feed & pet food, now also explored in food industry by Skotan
Advantages	Rich in proteins, all amino acids present. High vitamin and mineral content.
Challenges (Key limitations, risk factors)	Not all amino acids present at high enough level for FAO reccomendations (methionine and cysteine not). No meat-like texture
Regulatory status in Europe	Is seen as Novel Food in Europe, and is allowed on the market. (Turck et al., 2019)
Regulatory status in other parts of the world	No evidence found that it is allowed as biomass fermentation product in Canada, US or Singapore
Extra/remark	Also used a lot for biomass lipid production (Dias et al., 2024)
Publications/references	Jach, M. E., & Malm, A. (2022). Yarrowia lipolytica as an Alternative and Valuable Source of Nutritional and Bioactive Compounds for Humans. Molecules, 27(7), 2300. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27072300 Dias, B., Lopes, M., Fernandes, H., Marques, S., Gírio, F., & Belo, I. (2024). Biomass and microbial lipids production by Yarrowia lipolytica W29 from eucalyptus bark hydrolysate. Renewable Energy, 224, 120173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2024.120173 Van Winden, W. A., Mans, R., Breestraat, S., Verlinden, R. a. J., Mielgo‐Gómez, Á., De Hulster, E. a. F., De Bruijn, H. M. C. J., & Noorman, H. J. (2022). Towards closed carbon loop fermentations: Cofeeding of Yarrowia lipolytica with glucose and formic acid. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 119(8), 2142–2151. https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.28115 Jach, M. E., Sajnaga, E., Świder, R., Baier, A., Mickowska, B., Juda, M., Chudzik-Rząd, B., Szyszka, R., & Malm, A. (2017). Yarrowia lipolytica Grown on Biofuel Waste as a Source of Single Cell Protein and Essential Amino Acids for Human Diet. Saudi Journal of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. https://doi.org/10.21276/sjmps.2017.3.12.14 GROPOȘILĂ-CONSTANTINESCU, D., POPA, O., MĂRGĂRIT, G., & VISAN, L. (2015). Production of Microbial Lipids by Yarrowia Lipolytica. Romanian Biotechnological Letters, Vol. 20(No. 6). Juszczyk, P., Tomaszewska, L., Kita, A., & Rymowicz, W. (2013). Biomass production by novel strains of Yarrowia lipolytica using raw glycerol, derived from biodiesel production. Bioresource Technology, 137, 124–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.03.010 Turck, D., Castenmiller, J., De Henauw, S., Hirsch‐Ernst, K., Kearney, J., Maciuk, A., Mangelsdorf, I., McArdle, H. J., Naska, A., Pelaez, C., Pentieva, K., Siani, A., Thies, F., Tsabouri, S., Vinceti, M., Cubadda, F., Engel, K., Frenzel, T., Heinonen, M., . . . Knutsen, H. K. (2019). Safety of Yarrowia lipolytica yeast biomass as a novel food pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. EFSA Journal, 17(2). https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2019.5594 Miranda, S. M., Belo, I., & Lopes, M. (2024). Yarrowia lipolytica growth, lipids, and protease production in medium with higher alkanes and alkenes. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 40(10). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-024-04123-7 Michalik, B., Biel, W., Lubowicki, R., & Jacyno, E. (2013). Chemical composition and biological value of proteins of the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica growing on industrial glycerol. Canadian Journal of Animal Science, 94(1), 99–104. https://doi.org/10.4141/cjas2013-052