Continuous Cultivation of Yarrowia lipolytica: Potential, Challenges, and Case Studies

Currently, the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is regarded as one of the most promising producers of protein, lipids, polyols, organic acids, and other metabolites. The objective of enhancing the efficiency of the target product biosynthesis can be achieved through the improvement of the strains-producers and the optimization of the cultivation conditions. The present review assesses the potential of continuous cultivation methods (chemostat, turbidostat, pH-auxostat, changestats, etc.) in order to gain insight into the impact of strains and cultivation conditions on the productivity of the developed bioprocesses. The utilization of continuous cultivation methods enables the implementation of processes under controlled and reproducible conditions, thus stabilizing the parameters of the cultivation and the physiological state of the producer, and obtaining homogeneous samples. The review focuses on nitrogen-limited chemostat cultures, which represent the most commonly employed strategy for investigating the physiological and biochemical characteristics of the yeast Y. lipolytica and for developing the processes for the production of lipids, erythritol, citric acid, and recombinant proteins. To date, such an analysis of the literature has not been conducted in the context of the yeast Y. lipolytica.