Current Biotechnology ›› 2026, Vol. 16 ›› Issue (3): 562-573.DOI: 10.19586/j.2095-2341.2026.0088

• Special Forum on Microbial Cell Factory • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research Progress on Recombinant Protein Production in the Yarrowia lipolytica Cell Factory

Xuan ZHAO1(), Zhongxue LIU1(), Lingling WU1, Yongming GOU1, Yingjie LIU2(), Wenjian MA1()   

  1. 1.School of Bioengineering,Tianjin University of Science Technology,Tianjin 300457,China
    2.College of Biological and Chemical Engineering,Qilu Institute of Technology,Shandong Jinan 250200,China
  • Received:2026-04-03 Accepted:2026-05-19 Online:2026-05-25 Published:2026-07-14
  • Contact: Yingjie LIU,Wenjian MA

Abstract:

High-yield recombinant protein production represents a core demand in biomanufacturing, driving the urgent need to develop genetically stable and highly productive cell factories. As a non-conventional yeast, Yarrowia lipolytica has emerged as a novel and efficient expression host due to its excellent protein secretion capacity, well-established eukaryotic post-translational modification machinery, broad substrate utilization, and favorable industrial fermentation characteristics. However, native yeast systems still face numerous challenges and often fall short of meeting the diverse requirements for recombinant protein production. The review summarized the research progress on recombinant protein production using Y. lipolytica cell factories, analyzed the characteristics of Y. lipolytica compared to common expression hosts, sorted out the core elements of its expression systems and corresponding optimization strategies, elaborated the genetic editing tools available for this host, outlined strategies and application examples for optimizing protein secretion and stability and finally, provides perspectives on future development directions, with the aim of advancing the engineering of efficient protein expression hosts.

Key words: Yarrowia lipolytica, recombinant protein, cell factory, genetic editing tools, secretion pathway

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