Current biological pathways to produce biofuel intermediates amenable to separations and catalytic
upgrading to hydrocarbon fuels are not cost effective. Previously, oleaginous yeasts have been investigated primarily
for lipid production. However, yeasts store neutral lipids intracellularly making recovery difficult and expensive. In
addition, once recovered from the cells, lipids are difficult to blend directly with the existing fuels without upgrading.
We have, therefore, begun to investigate secreted fatty acid-derived products which can be easily recovered and
upgraded to fuels.
Oleaginous yeasts have received increasing attention due
to their ability to accumulate high intracellular content
of neutral lipids, which are considered as alternatives
to plant oils for biodiesel production [1]. Among these
oleaginous species, Yarrowia lipolytica is a well-studied
model organism for genetic and physiological research
as well as for industrial applications [2–5]. The establishment
of the genome sequence of Y. lipolytica strain E150
(CLIB99) [6, 7] and the development of critical genetic
tools, such as transformation methods [8] and integrative