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Yarrowia lipolytica is routinely isolated from different food media (cheeses, sausages, ...) or from natural environments like oil fields. Most isolates are haploid, but a stable diploid state exists that can be induced to form four-spored asci. No mating type switching occurs in this yeast. Cells differentiate into yeast, pseudomycelium and true mycelial forms depending on growth conditions. They also secrete various hydrolytic enzymes (proteases, lipases, Rnase, ...), some at g/l levels. The species is admittedly non pathogenic. Y. lipolytica is physiologically and taxonomically very distant from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It is an obligate aerobic yeast, that can use normal hydrocarbons and various fats as carbon sources. This lent to various industrial applications, generally recognized as safe (GRAS), ranging from single cell protein or heterologous protein production, to citric acid or flavouring agents synthesis [1-3].

Advanced genetic tools have been developed, permitting classical genetic approaches, gene replacement, overexpression, etc ... It has been used as a model for the study of early steps of protein secretion, carbon metabolism and utilisation of hydrophobic substrates, peroxisome biogenesis, mitochondrial complex I biogenesis, morphogenesis control, pH signalling, and secretory protease regulation [1-2].

The nuclear genome of Y. lipolytica is split into six chromosomes, totalling ca. 20 Mb of DNA, with no known extrachromosomal plasmid. Centromere and origin of replications were biologically identified and share no similarity with corresponding S. cerevisiae elements nor between themselves [4]. The full mitochondrial sequence is available [5]. A preliminary genome survey has been published [6] Repeated sequences consist in several subtelomeric, non identical, clusters of rDNA (six in the sequenced strain), at least two retrotransposons of the Ty3 family, a Line element, Yili, and a MULE like element, all seemingly active [7]. About 13% of the genes contain one or occasionally two introns or more, sometimes of a relatively large size [8]. The genome reveals large gene families encoding tRNAs and translation components, lipases, enzymes involved in hydrophobic compound utilisation, secretory proteases. Gene duplications are as frequent as in other yeasts, but seem to result mainly from single, ectopic, duplications. Many genes appear more similar to genes from filamentous fungi genes than from S. cerevisiae or have no known orthologues.

1. Barth G., Gaillardin C. (1996) The dimorphic fungus Yarrowia lipolytica. In « Genetics, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology of Non Conventional Yeasts » K. Wolf (Ed.) Springer Verlag, Heidelberg 313-388.
2. Barth G., Beckerich J.M., Dominguez A., Kerscher S., Ogrydziak D., Titorenko V., Gaillardin C. (2003) Functional genetics of Yarrowia lipolytica. In Functional Genetics of industrial yeasts (de-Winde H., ed.); Topics in Current Genetics vol. 1, pp:227-271, Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany.
3. Madzak C, Gaillardin C, Beckerich JM. (2004) Heterologous protein expression and secretion in the non-conventional yeast Yarrowia lipolytica: a review. J Biotechnol 109, 63-81.
4. Vernis L., Poljak L., Chasles M., Uchida K., Casarégola S., Käs E., Matsuoka M., Gaillardin C., Fournier P. (2001) Only centromeres can supply the partition function required for ARS function in the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. J. Mol. Biol. 305, 203-217
5. Kerscher S, Durstewitz G, Casaregola S, Gaillardin C, Brandt U (2001) The complete mitochondrial genome of Yarrowia lipolytica. Comp Funct Genom 2, 80-90.
6. Casaregola S., Neuvéglise C., Lépingle A., Bon E., Feynerol C., Artiguenave F., Wincker P., Gaillardin C. (2000) Genomic exploration of hemiascomycetous yeasts. - 17. Yarrowia lipolytica. FEBS letters 487, 95-100.
7. Casaregola S, Neuvéglise C, Bon E, Gaillardin C (2002) Ylli, a family of LTR-less retrotransposons in the dimorphic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. Mol. Biol. Evol. 19, 664-677.
8. Bon E., Casaregola S., Blandin G., Llorente B., Neuveglise C., Munsterkotter M., Guldener U., Mewes H.W., Van Helden J., Dujon B., Gaillardin C. (2003) Molecular Evolution of Eukaryotic Genomes: Hemiascomycetous Yeast Spliceosomal Introns. Nucl. Acids Res. 31, 1121-1135