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Yeast biotechnology

Edited by Prof Diethard Mattanovich

Microbial Cell Factories invites submissions to the recently launched thematic series on “Yeast biotechnology”.

Mankind has exploited the metabolic activities of yeasts in baking and brewing for several millennia. The invention of the fed-batch technology for production of bakers' yeast has been a cornerstone of modern biotechnology, enabling the development of efficient production processes for antibiotics, biopharmaceuticals and technical enzymes. Alcoholic fermentation, on the other hand, is a model for microbial metabolite production and has become a major research focus for the manufacturing of biofuels. Expanding from our knowledge on bakers' yeast, diverse yeast species are explored today. The series highlights the latest research to produce biopharmaceuticals, enzymes, alcohols, organic acids, flavours and fine chemicals, underlining the huge potential of yeast biotechnology.

This collection of articles has not been sponsored and articles have undergone the journal’s standard peer-review process. The Guest Editors declare no competing interests.

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  1. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an important synthetic biology chassis for microbial production of valuable molecules. Promoter engineering has been frequently applied to generate more synthetic promoters with a vari...

    Authors: Jiliang Deng, Yanling Wu, Zhaohui Zheng, Nanzhu Chen, Xiaozhou Luo, Hongting Tang and Jay D. Keasling
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2021 20:202
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Astaxanthin is a kind of tetraterpene and has strong antioxygenic property. The biosynthesis of astaxanthin in engineered microbial chassis has greater potential than its chemical synthesis and extraction from...

    Authors: Dan-Dan Qi, Jin Jin, Duo Liu, Bin Jia and Ying-Jin Yuan
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2020 19:103
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. The methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris is well-known for the production of a broad spectrum of functional types of heterologous proteins including enzymes, antigens, engineered antibody fragments, and next gen ...

    Authors: Xueyun Zheng, Yimin Zhang, Xinying Zhang, Cheng Li, Xiaoxiao Liu, Ying Lin and Shuli Liang
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2019 18:207
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Torulene and torularhodin represent the group of carotenoids and are synthesized by yeasts and fungi. The most important producers of these two compounds include yeasts of Rhodotorula and Sporobolomyces genera. T...

    Authors: Anna M. Kot, Stanisław Błażejak, Iwona Gientka, Marek Kieliszek and Joanna Bryś
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2018 17:49
    Content type: Review Published on:

  6. Cultivation of recombinant Pichia pastoris (Komagataella sp.) under hypoxic conditions has a strong positive effect on specific productivity when the glycolytic GAP promoter is used for recombinant protein expres...

    Authors: Núria Adelantado, Pablo Tarazona, Karlheinz Grillitsch, Xavier García-Ortega, Sergi Monforte, Francisco Valero, Ivo Feussner, Günther Daum and Pau Ferrer
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2017 16:86
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. Bacterial inclusion bodies (IBs) are non-toxic protein aggregates commonly produced in recombinant bacteria. They are formed by a mixture of highly stable amyloid-like fibrils and releasable protein species wi...

    Authors: Fabián Rueda, Brigitte Gasser, Alejandro Sánchez-Chardi, Mònica Roldán, Sandra Villegas, Verena Puxbaum, Neus Ferrer-Miralles, Ugutz Unzueta, Esther Vázquez, Elena Garcia-Fruitós, Diethard Mattanovich and Antonio Villaverde
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2016 15:166
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Glycosylation of flavonoids is a promising approach to improve the pharmacokinetic properties and biological activities of flavonoids. Recently, many efforts such as enzymatic biocatalysis and the engineered Esch...

    Authors: Huimin Wang, Yan Yang, Lin Lin, Wenlong Zhou, Minzhi Liu, Kedi Cheng and Wei Wang
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2016 15:134
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. The yeast amino acid catabolism plays an important role in flavour generation since higher alcohols and acetate esters, amino acid catabolism end products, are key components of overall flavour and aroma in fe...

    Authors: Jiri Stribny, Gabriele Romagnoli, Roberto Pérez-Torrado, Jean-Marc Daran and Amparo Querol
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2016 15:51
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. Raspberry ketone is the primary aroma compound found in raspberries and naturally derived raspberry ketone is a valuable flavoring agent. The economic incentives for the production of raspberry ketone, combine...

    Authors: Danna Lee, Natoiya D. R. Lloyd, Isak S. Pretorius and Anthony R. Borneman
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2016 15:49
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. With increasing concern about the environmental impact of a petroleum based economy, focus has shifted towards greener production strategies including metabolic engineering of microbes for the conversion of pl...

    Authors: Sarah Rodriguez, Charles M. Denby, T. Van Vu, Edward E. K. Baidoo, George Wang and Jay D. Keasling
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2016 15:48
    Content type: Research Published on:

  12. Several plant diterpenes have important biological properties. Among them, forskolin is a complex labdane-type diterpene whose biological activity stems from its ability to activate adenylyl cyclase and to ele...

    Authors: Codruta Ignea, Efstathia Ioannou, Panagiota Georgantea, Fotini A. Trikka, Anastasia Athanasakoglou, Sofia Loupassaki, Vassilios Roussis, Antonios M. Makris and Sotirios C. Kampranis
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2016 15:46
    Content type: Research Published on:

  13. Lactic acid is a versatile chemical platform with many different industrial applications. Yeasts have been demonstrated as attractive alternative to natural lactic acid producers since they can grow at low pH,...

    Authors: Nadia Maria Berterame, Danilo Porro, Diletta Ami and Paola Branduardi
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2016 15:39
    Content type: Research Published on:

  14. Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be engineered to perform a multitude of different chemical reactions that are not programmed in its original genetic code. It has a large potential to func...

    Authors: Jan Dines Knudsen, Cecilia Hägglöf, Nora Weber and Magnus Carlquist
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2016 15:37
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. Fermentative aromas play a key role in the organoleptic profile of young wines. Their production depends both on yeast strain and fermentation conditions. A present-day trend in the wine industry consists in d...

    Authors: Stéphanie Rollero, Jean-Roch Mouret, Isabelle Sanchez, Carole Camarasa, Anne Ortiz-Julien, Jean-Marie Sablayrolles and Sylvie Dequin
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2016 15:32
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. Imidazolium ionic liquids (IILs) underpin promising technologies that generate fermentable sugars from lignocellulose for future biorefineries. However, residual IILs ar...

    Authors: Quinn Dickinson, Scott Bottoms, Li Hinchman, Sean McIlwain, Sheena Li, Chad L. Myers, Charles Boone, Joshua J. Coon, Alexander Hebert, Trey K. Sato, Robert Landick and Jeff S. Piotrowski
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2016 15:17
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. Promoters are indispensable elements of a standardized parts collection for synthetic biology. Regulated promoters of a wide variety of well-defined induction ratios and expression strengths are highly interes...

    Authors: Brigitte Gasser, Matthias G. Steiger and Diethard Mattanovich
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:196
    Content type: Commentary Published on:

  20. Lignocellulosic substrates and pulping process streams are of increasing relevance to biorefineries for second generation biofuels and biochemical production. They are known to be rich in sugars and inhibitors...

    Authors: Peter Temitope Adeboye, Maurizio Bettiga, Fredrik Aldaeus, Per Tomas Larsson and Lisbeth Olsson
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:149
    Content type: Research Published on:

  22. Glutathione (GSH), a pivotal non-protein thiol, can be biosynthesized through three pathways in different organisms: (1) two consecutive enzymatic reactions catalyzed by γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (Gsh1 or ...

    Authors: Liang Tang, Weiwei Wang, Wenlong Zhou, Kai Cheng, Yan Yang, Minzhi Liu, Kedi Cheng and Wei Wang
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:139
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. Monoterpenes are important contributors to grape and wine aroma. Moreover, certain monoterpenes have been shown to display health benefits with antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer or hypotensive prope...

    Authors: Ester Pardo, Juan Rico, José Vicente Gil and Margarita Orejas
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:136
    Content type: Research Published on:

  24. Saccharomyces cerevisiae has become a popular host for production of non-native compounds. The metabolic pathways involved generally require a n...

    Authors: Tim Vos, Pilar de la Torre Cortés, Walter M. van Gulik, Jack T. Pronk and Pascale Daran-Lapujade
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:133
    Content type: Research Published on:

  25. Aroma is one of the most important attributes defining wine quality in which yeasts play a crucial role, synthesizing aromatic compounds or releasing odourless conjugate...

    Authors: Amparo Gamero, Carmela Belloch and Amparo Querol
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:128
    Content type: Research Published on:

  26. The introduction of yeast starter cultures consisting in a blend of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and non-Saccharomyces yeast strains is emerging for...

    Authors: Catarina Barbosa, Arlete Mendes-Faia, Patrícia Lage, Nuno P. Mira and Ana Mendes-Ferreira
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:124
    Content type: Research Published on:

  28. A Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain carrying deletions in all three pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) genes (also called Pdc negative yeast) represents a non-ethanol producing platform strain for the production of pyruv...

    Authors: Yiming Zhang, Guodong Liu, Martin K M Engqvist, Anastasia Krivoruchko, Björn M Hallström, Yun Chen, Verena Siewers and Jens Nielsen
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:116
    Content type: Research Published on:

  29. Membrane proteins are important drug targets in many human diseases and gathering structural information regarding these proteins encourages the pharmaceutical industry ...

    Authors: Augusto Q Pedro, Luís M Martins, João M L Dias, Maria J Bonifácio, João A Queiroz and Luís A Passarinha
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:113
    Content type: Research Published on:

  30. Sugar alcohols have been widely applied in the fields of food and medicine owing to their unique properties. Compared to chemical production, microbial production of sugar alcohols has become attractive becaus...

    Authors: Guoqiang Zhang, Yuping Lin, Xianni Qi, Lixian Wang, Peng He, Qinhong Wang and Yanhe Ma
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:112
    Content type: Research Published on:

  31. Microbial population dynamics in bioreactors depend on both nutrients availability and changes in the growth environment. Research is still ongoing on the optimization o...

    Authors: Stefano Mazzoleni, Carmine Landi, Fabrizio Cartenì, Elisabetta de Alteriis, Francesco Giannino, Lucia Paciello and Palma Parascandola
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:109
    Content type: Research Published on:

  32. Recombinant protein production in the yeast Pichia pastoris is usually based on the alcohol oxidase promoters pAOX1 and pAOX2, which are regulated by methanol and strongly repressed by other C-sources, like glyce...

    Authors: Simona Capone, Jernej Horvat, Christoph Herwig and Oliver Spadiut
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:101
    Content type: Research Published on:

  33. Cold stress reduces microbial growth and metabolism being relevant in industrial processes like wine making and brewing. Knowledge on the cold transcriptional response of S...

    Authors: Lidia Ballester-Tomás, Francisca Randez-Gil, Roberto Pérez-Torrado and Jose Antonio Prieto
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:100
    Content type: Research Published on:

  34. One of the bottlenecks in production of biochemicals and pharmaceuticals in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is stable and homogeneous expression of pathway genes. Integration of genes into the genome of the production o...

    Authors: Carlotta Ronda, Jérôme Maury, Tadas Jakočiu̅nas, Simo Abdessamad Baallal Jacobsen, Susanne Manuela Germann, Scott James Harrison, Irina Borodina, Jay D Keasling, Michael Krogh Jensen and Alex Toftgaard Nielsen
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:97
    Content type: Research Published on:

  35. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is one of the oldest and most frequently used microorganisms in biotechnology with successful applications in the production of both bulk and fine chemicals. Yet, yeast research...

    Authors: Martin Kavšček, Martin Stražar, Tomaž Curk, Klaus Natter and Uroš Petrovič
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:94
    Content type: Review Published on:

  36. Predictable control of gene expression is necessary for the rational design and optimization of cell factories. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the promoter is one of the most ...

    Authors: Bingyin Peng, Thomas C Williams, Matthew Henry, Lars K Nielsen and Claudia E Vickers
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:91
    Content type: Technical Notes Published on:

  37. A moderate-temperature, astaxanthin-overproducing mutant strain (termed MK19) of Phaffia rhodozyma was generated in our laboratory. The intracellular astaxanthin content of MK19 was 17-fold higher than that of wi...

    Authors: Shuang Chi, Yanfeng He, Jie Ren, Qian Su, Xingchao Liu, Zhi Chen, Mingan Wang, Ying Li and Jilun Li
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:90
    Content type: Research Published on:

  39. Apocarotenoids, like the C13-norisoprenoids, are natural compounds that contribute to the flavor and/or aroma of flowers and foods. They are produced in aromatic plants—like raspberries and roses—by the enzyma...

    Authors: Javiera López, Karen Essus, Il-kwon Kim, Rui Pereira, Jan Herzog, Verena Siewers, Jens Nielsen and Eduardo Agosin
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:84
    Content type: Research Published on:

  40. L-tyrosine is a common precursor for a wide range of valuable secondary metabolites, including benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs) and many polyketides. An industrially tractable yeast strain optimized for pro...

    Authors: Nicholas D. Gold, Christopher M. Gowen, Francois-Xavier Lussier, Sarat C. Cautha, Radhakrishnan Mahadevan and Vincent J. J. Martin
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:73
    Content type: Research Published on:

  41. Wine yeasts can produce undesirable sulfur compounds during alcoholic fermentation, such as SO2 and H2S, in variable amounts depending mostly on the yeast strain but also on the conditions. However, although sulf...

    Authors: Jessica Noble, Isabelle Sanchez and Bruno Blondin
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:68
    Content type: Research Published on:

  42. Isobutanol is an important biorefinery target alcohol that can be used as a fuel, fuel additive, or commodity chemical. Baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is a promising organism ...

    Authors: Kengo Ida, Jun Ishii, Fumio Matsuda, Takashi Kondo and Akihiko Kondo
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:62
    Content type: Research Published on:

  44. Terpenoids (isoprenoids) have numerous applications in flavors, fragrances, drugs and biofuels. The number of microbially produced terpenoids is increasing as new biosynthetic pathways are being elucidated. Ho...

    Authors: Fotini A Trikka, Alexandros Nikolaidis, Anastasia Athanasakoglou, Aggeliki Andreadelli, Codruta Ignea, Konstantia Kotta, Anagnostis Argiriou, Sotirios C Kampranis and Antonios M Makris
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:60
    Content type: Research Published on:

  45. Invertase Suc2 was recently identified as a key hydrolase for inulin catabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, whereas the Suc2 activity degrading inulin varies greatly in different S. cerevisiae strains. The molec...

    Authors: Fan Yang, Zhi-Cheng Liu, Xue Wang, Li-Li Li, Lan Yang, Wen-Zhu Tang, Zhi-Min Yu and Xianzhen Li
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:59
    Content type: Research Published on:

  47. Measurement of mitochondrial ATP synthesis is a critical way to compare cellular energetic performance. However, fractionation of mitochondria requires large amounts of cells, lengthy purification procedures, ...

    Authors: Xiaoting Ye, Kana Morikawa, Shih-Hsin Ho, Michihiro Araki, Keiji Nishida, Tomohisa Hasunuma, Kiyotaka Y Hara and Akihiko Kondo
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:56
    Content type: Technical Notes Published on:

  48. Omega hydroxy fatty acids (ω-OHFAs) are multifunctional compounds that act as the basis for the production of various industrial products with broad commercial and pharmaceutical implications. However, the ter...

    Authors: Pradeepraj Durairaj, Sailesh Malla, Saravanan Prabhu Nadarajan, Pyung-Gang Lee, Eunok Jung, Hyun Ho Park, Byung-Gee Kim and Hyungdon Yun
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:45
    Content type: Research Published on:

  49. Engineering dynamic, environmentally- and temporally-responsive control of gene expression is one of the principle objectives in the field of synthetic biology. Dynamic regulation is desirable because many eng...

    Authors: Thomas C Williams, Monica I Espinosa, Lars K Nielsen and Claudia E Vickers
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:43
    Content type: Technical Notes Published on:

  50. The methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris, is widely used as a useful experimental tool in protein engineering and production. It is common for proteins expressed in P. pastoris to exhibit N-glycosylation. In rec...

    Authors: Min Yang, Xiao-Wei Yu, Haiyan Zheng, Chong Sha, Caifeng Zhao, Meiqian Qian and Yan Xu
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:40
    Content type: Research Published on: