The Overexpression of YALI0B07117g Results in Enhanced Erythritol Synthesis from Glycerol by the Yeast Yarrowia lipolytica

The unconventional yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is used to produce erythritol from glycerol. In this study, the role of the erythrose reductase (ER) homolog YALI0B07117g in erythritol synthesis was analyzed. The deletion of the gene resulted in an increased production of mannitol (308%) and arabitol (204%) before the utilization of these polyols began. The strain overexpressing the YALI0B07117g gene was used to increase the erythritol yield from glycerol as a sole carbon source in batch cultures, resulting in a yield of 0.4 g/g. The specific consumption rate (qs) increased from 5.83 g/g/L for the WT strain to 8.49 g/g/L for the modified strain and the productivity of erythritol increased from 0.28 g/(L h) for the A101 strain to 0.41 g/(L h) for the modified strain. The application of the research may prove positive for shortening the cultivation time due to the increased rate of consumption of the substrate combined with the increased parameters of erythritol synthesis.