[P002] Poster

1:00 PM - 1:50 PM JST(4:00 AM - 4:50 AM UTC)

[P01-058] Development of novel strain of Y. lipolytica for high titer production of retinal

○Jinwoo Song¹, Hojun Lee², Dawon Seo¹, Sang Woo Seo^1,2,3,4 (1. School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Seoul National University (Korea), 2. Interdisciplinary Program in Bioengineering, Seoul National University (Korea), 3. Institute of Chemical Processes, Engineering, Seoul National University (Korea), 4. Bio-MAX Institute, Seoul National University (Korea))

Keywords:

Yarrowia lipolytica,Metabolic Engineering,Retinoid,Retinal,Yeast

[Purpose] Retinal, the aldehyde form of vitamin A, is a high-value compound widely used in the pharmaceutical, nutritional, and cosmetic industries. Current production relies on chemical synthesis, which is associated with environmentally hazardous byproducts and complex purification processes that inflate costs. As global demand for retinoids grows, sustainable and economic production methods are urgently needed.

[Method] This study presents the metabolic engineering of the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica as a platform for retinal biosynthesis. We systematically enhanced the native mevalonate pathway to increase the precursor pool of β-carotene and tested various carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases for the efficient conversion of β-carotene to retinal. Finally, endogenous aldehyde dehydrogenase/reductase genes were deleted to prevent further conversion of retinal into retinol.

[Results] The final engineered strain achieved a retinal titer of up to 1.382 gram/liter (g/L) of retinal in a 5L fed-batch system.

[Conclusion] This work establishes Y. lipolytcia as a highly effective platform for retinal production, offering a promising alternative to conventional chemical methods.