Development and dimorphism of the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica Chapter uri icon

abstract

  • Yarrowia lipolytica is one of the most important non-conventional yeasts that belongs to theDipodascaceae family of hemiascomycetous fungi. Y. lipolytica is used for both academic andbiotechnological applications. Respect to biotech traits, Y. lipolytica is widely used in production of singlecellprotein, organic acids and enzymes, also it utilized as heterologous protein expression system, andbioremediation issues, among others. On the other hand, Y. lipolytica has become a model used to studyseveral biological themes such as: dimorphism, protein secretion, gene manipulation, protein expression,peroxisome biogenesis, physiology, genetics, degradation of hydrophobic substrates, and lipidaccumulation, etc. Y. lipolytica is a dimorphic organism that grows as a mixture of yeast-like and shortmycelial cells. This behavior is influenced by pH, carbon and nitrogen sources, blood serum, citrate,polyamines and anaerobic stress. In the present chapter, we review many important regulators involved inthe dimorphic switch in Y. lipolytica. All the knowledge about the yeast-to-hypha transition that has beenobtained from this non-pathogenic yeast, providing information that undoubtedly will be useful for theunderstanding of this phenomenon in important pathogenic organisms. © 2012 Bentham Science Publishers. All rights reserved.

publication date

  • 2012-01-01