V. Conclusion and Outlook
Industrial application of yeasts has not only
shaped modern biotechnology in many ways
but is also contributing to our environment
and human health and well-being in many
ways. As outlined above yeast is employed to
produce bioethanol as a biogenic substitute to
transport fuels, natural colorants, and fragrances as well as biopharmaceutical proteins
and industrial enzymes. The detailed knowledge on ethanol production has guided the
development of strains producing different
organic acids as well as higher alcohols which
are likely to become chemical building blocks
and energy carrier derived from biogenic
resources in the near future. Yeast derived secondary metabolites like artemisinin or opioids
are close to being available for patients, constituting a novel class of complex biochemicals
not naturally produced in yeast.
Two major developments are shaping the
future of yeast biotechnology:
1. Development
of
so-called
nonconventional yeasts (i.e., non-Saccharomyces yeasts) into production platforms at par
with S. cerevisiae has gained enormous
momentum by modern genomics and systems biology, speeding up research on
physiology of these yeasts vastly.
2. Synthetic biology is accelerating development of new production strains by
providing standardized methods and tools
to assemble genetic elements and engineer
genomes. The advent of a fully synthetic
yeast genome (Schindler et al. 2018) adds
a complementary perspective to this development which may impact yeast biotechnology in many ways in future (Pretorius
and Boeke 2018).
The availability of fully synthetic yeast
chromosomes (and full genomes) will
likely shape yeast biotechnology in an
unprecedented way, once the newly developed technologies for genome design, synthesis, and assembly have developed
toward routine, and can be fully combined
with synthetic biology standards and tools
toward the industrial application of yeasts
for production of medicines, consumer
goods and energy. By this, yeasts will likely
play a major role in a future bioeconomy
with the aim to master some of our world’s
great challenges.
Acknowledgments Research on yeast biotechnology in
our labs is supported by the Federal Ministry for Digital
and Economic Affairs (BMDW); the Federal Ministry
for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT);
the Styrian Business Promotion Agency SFG; the Standortagentur Tirol; Government of Lower Austria; and
ZIT—Technology Agency of the City of Vienna
through the COMET-Funding Program managed by
the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG. Further
support by the BMDW and the National Foundation for
Research, Technology and Development through the
Christian Doppler Research Association is acknowledged.
References
Adachi E, Torigoe M, Sugiyama M, Nikawa J-I, Shimizu
K (1998) Modification of metabolic pathways of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae by the expression of lactate dehydrogenase and deletion of pyruvate
decarboxylase genes for the lactic acid fermentation at low pH value. J Ferment Bioeng 86(3):284–
289
Ahmad M, Hirz M, Pichler H, Schwab H (2014) Protein
expression in Pichia pastoris: recent achievements
and perspectives for heterologous protein production. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98(12):5301–5317
Ahn JH, Jang YS, Lee SY (2016) Production of succinic
acid by metabolically engineered microorganisms.
Curr Opin Biotechnol 42:54–66
Almeida JR, Fa ´varo LC, Quirino BF (2012) Biodiesel
biorefinery: opportunities and challenges for
microbial production of fuels and chemicals from
glycerol waste. Biotechnol Biofuels 5(1):48
Anyaogu DC, Mortensen UH (2015) Manipulating the
glycosylation pathway in bacterial and lower
eukaryotes for production of therapeutic proteins.
Curr Opin Biotechnol 36:122–128
Baek SH, Kwon EY, Kim YH, Hahn JS (2016) Metabolic
engineering and adaptive evolution for efficient
production of D-lactic acid in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100(6):2737–
2748
Baeshen NA, Baeshen MN, Sheikh A, Bora RS, Ahmed
MM, Ramadan HA, Saini KS, Redwan EM (2014)
Cell factories for insulin production. Microb Cell
Factories 13:141
13 Yeast Cell Factories
333
Industrial application of yeasts has not only
shaped modern biotechnology in many ways
but is also contributing to our environment
and human health and well-being in many
ways. As outlined above yeast is employed to
produce bioethanol as a biogenic substitute to
transport fuels, natural colorants, and fragrances as well as biopharmaceutical proteins
and industrial enzymes. The detailed knowledge on ethanol production has guided the
development of strains producing different
organic acids as well as higher alcohols which
are likely to become chemical building blocks
and energy carrier derived from biogenic
resources in the near future. Yeast derived secondary metabolites like artemisinin or opioids
are close to being available for patients, constituting a novel class of complex biochemicals
not naturally produced in yeast.
Two major developments are shaping the
future of yeast biotechnology:
1. Development
of
so-called
nonconventional yeasts (i.e., non-Saccharomyces yeasts) into production platforms at par
with S. cerevisiae has gained enormous
momentum by modern genomics and systems biology, speeding up research on
physiology of these yeasts vastly.
2. Synthetic biology is accelerating development of new production strains by
providing standardized methods and tools
to assemble genetic elements and engineer
genomes. The advent of a fully synthetic
yeast genome (Schindler et al. 2018) adds
a complementary perspective to this development which may impact yeast biotechnology in many ways in future (Pretorius
and Boeke 2018).
The availability of fully synthetic yeast
chromosomes (and full genomes) will
likely shape yeast biotechnology in an
unprecedented way, once the newly developed technologies for genome design, synthesis, and assembly have developed
toward routine, and can be fully combined
with synthetic biology standards and tools
toward the industrial application of yeasts
for production of medicines, consumer
goods and energy. By this, yeasts will likely
play a major role in a future bioeconomy
with the aim to master some of our world’s
great challenges.
Acknowledgments Research on yeast biotechnology in
our labs is supported by the Federal Ministry for Digital
and Economic Affairs (BMDW); the Federal Ministry
for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT);
the Styrian Business Promotion Agency SFG; the Standortagentur Tirol; Government of Lower Austria; and
ZIT—Technology Agency of the City of Vienna
through the COMET-Funding Program managed by
the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG. Further
support by the BMDW and the National Foundation for
Research, Technology and Development through the
Christian Doppler Research Association is acknowledged.
References
Adachi E, Torigoe M, Sugiyama M, Nikawa J-I, Shimizu
K (1998) Modification of metabolic pathways of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae by the expression of lactate dehydrogenase and deletion of pyruvate
decarboxylase genes for the lactic acid fermentation at low pH value. J Ferment Bioeng 86(3):284–
289
Ahmad M, Hirz M, Pichler H, Schwab H (2014) Protein
expression in Pichia pastoris: recent achievements
and perspectives for heterologous protein production. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98(12):5301–5317
Ahn JH, Jang YS, Lee SY (2016) Production of succinic
acid by metabolically engineered microorganisms.
Curr Opin Biotechnol 42:54–66
Almeida JR, Fa ´varo LC, Quirino BF (2012) Biodiesel
biorefinery: opportunities and challenges for
microbial production of fuels and chemicals from
glycerol waste. Biotechnol Biofuels 5(1):48
Anyaogu DC, Mortensen UH (2015) Manipulating the
glycosylation pathway in bacterial and lower
eukaryotes for production of therapeutic proteins.
Curr Opin Biotechnol 36:122–128
Baek SH, Kwon EY, Kim YH, Hahn JS (2016) Metabolic
engineering and adaptive evolution for efficient
production of D-lactic acid in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100(6):2737–
2748
Baeshen NA, Baeshen MN, Sheikh A, Bora RS, Ahmed
MM, Ramadan HA, Saini KS, Redwan EM (2014)
Cell factories for insulin production. Microb Cell
Factories 13:141
13 Yeast Cell Factories
333