Organic Acid Production by Yeast Yarrowia lipolytica: A Review of the Last Five Years of Research

The commercial significance of organic acids is extremely high. Due to their chemical properties, organic acids can be used both as building blocks and as individual compounds with enormous annual production. Traditionally, organic acids are obtained from fossil sources through chemical synthesis. However, the most promising approach is microbial synthesis, which yields a product characterized by high purity and a conformational composition similar to the natural substance. This review presents the latest publications (based on search results from 2020 to the present) on the production of organic acids by the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. In recent years, the combined efforts of microbiologists, physiologists, biochemical engineers, and biotechnologists have led to increases in the titer, yield, and productivity of well-studied “old” acids (citric, succinic, α-ketoglutaric, etc.), as well as the discovery of “new” acids (adipic, 3-hydroxypropionic, L-malic) previously unexplored in Y. lipolytica. Furthermore, the possibility of using alternative substrates as carbon sources increases the attractiveness of producing organic acids by Y. lipolytica in accordance with the principles of a circular economy. The results described here may be useful to the scientific community and stimulate new research in the field of organic acid production in the near future.