Enhanced inhibitor tolerance and increased lipid productivity through adaptive laboratory evolution in the oleaginous yeast Metshnikowia pulcherrima

Microbial lipid production from second generation feedstocks presents a sustainable route to future fuels, foods and bulk chemicals. The oleaginous yeast Metshnikowia pulcherrima has previously been investigated as a potential platform organism for lipid production due to its ability to be grown in non-sterile conditions and metabolising a wide range of oligo- and monosaccharide carbon sources within lignocellulosic hydrolysates. However, the generation of inhibitors from depolymerisation causes downstream bioprocessing complications, and despite M. pulcherrimas comparative tolerance, their presence is deleterious to both biomass and lipid formation. Using either a single inhibitor (formic acid) or an inhibitor cocktail (formic acid, acetic acid, fufural and HMF), two strategies of adaptive laboratory evolution were performed to improve M. pulcherrimas fermentation inhibitor tolerance. Using a sequential batch culturing approach, the resulting strains from both strategies had increased growth rates and reduced lag times under inhibiting conditions versus the progenitor. Interestingly, the lipid production of the inhibitor cocktail evolved strains markedly increased, with one strain producing 41% lipid by dry weight compared to 22% of the progenitor. The evolved species was cultured in a non-sterile 2L stirred tank bioreactor and accumulated lipid rapidly, yielding 6.1 g/L of lipid (35% cell dry weight) within 48 hours; a lipid productivity of 0.128 g L-1 h-1. Furthermore, the lipid profile was analogous to palm oil, consisting of 39% C16:0 and 56% C18:1 after 48 hours.