Newly isolated mutant of Yarrowia lipolytica MK1 as a proper host for efficient erythritol biosynthesis from glycerol

• Strain Yarrowia lipolytica MK1 is a promising industrial host of erythritol production from glycerol.
• During RBC the strain Y. lipolytica MK1 was able to produce 224 g l−1 erythritol.
• UV mutation caused limitation of by-product formation below 2.3%.
• The Y. lipolytica MK1 biomass contains 80% of unsaturated fatty acids in the total fatty acids pool.

Mutants of Yarrowia lipolytica Wratislavia K1 were generated by ultraviolet mutagenesis to enhance erythritol production and to minimize by-products formation. One of the mutants named as MK1 was selected for further investigation. In batch culture strain Y. lipolytica MK1 was able to produce up to 82.2 g l−1 erythritol with 0.55 g g−1 yield and productivity of 0.84 g l−1 h−1. The concentration of by-products was below 5% of all synthesized metabolites. In order to enhance the production of erythritol and to inhibit the production of by-products the repeated batch culture (RBC) was performed. In RBC strain Y. lipolytica MK1 gave maximum erythritol production 224 g l−1 with 0.77 g g−1 yield and productivity of 0.54 g l−1 h−1. The concentration of by-products was below 2.3% of all synthesized metabolites. Moreover, the lipid and fatty acid content in the biomass was determined. This is the first study on newly isolated Y. lipolytica mutant. It demonstrates that Y. lipolytica MK1 is able to produce significantly high erythritol with strong inhibition of by-products formation.