Potential of Rhodosporidium toruloides for Fatty Acids Production Using Lignocellulose Biomass

Abstract

Microbial lipids are ideal for developing liquid biofuels because of their sustainability and no dependence on food crops. Especially the bioprocess for microbial lipids may be made economical by using sustainable approaches, e.g., lignocellulose-based carbon sources. This demand led to a search for ideal microorganisms with the ability to utilize efficiently biomass into value-added products. Rhodosporidium toruloides species belongs to the family of oleaginous (OG) yeast, which aggregates up to 70% of its biomass to produce fatty acids which can be converted to a variety of biofuels. R. toruloides is extremely adaptable to different types of feedstocks. Among all feedstock, a lot of effort is going on to develop a bioprocess of fatty acid production from lignocellulose biomass. The lignocellulose biomass is pretreated using harsh conditions of acid, alkali, and other which leads to the generation of a variety of sugars and toxic compounds. Thus, so obtained lignocellulose hydrolysate may have conditions of different pH, variable carbon and nitrogen ratios, and other non-optimum conditions. Accordingly, a detailed investigation is required for molecular level metabolism of R. toruloides in response to the hydrolysate for producing desired biochemicals like fatty acids. The present review focuses on numerous elements and obstacles, including metabolism, biofuel production, cultivation parameters, and genetic alteration of mutants in extracting fatty acids from lignocellulosic materials utilizing Rhodosporidium spp. This review provides useful information on the research working to develop processes for lignocellulose biomass using oleaginous yeast.

Keywords: Rhodosporidium toruloides; Biorefinery; Lignocellulosic biomass; Microbial lipids; Oleaginous yeast.