Yeast synthetic biology approaches for the production of valuable polyphenolic compounds

Abstract

Polyphenols are secondary metabolites isolated from plants that are known for their biological and therapeutical properties. However, the extraction from plants renders low yields, besides being expensive and not environmentally friendly. Therefore, the use of heterologous microorganisms, so-called microbial chassis, became an interesting alternative approach to produce polyphenols. With the advances in the metabolic engineering and synthetic biology fields, the development of such microbial chassis able to produce these compounds with higher yields and productivities became easier. Several yeast species, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Yarrowia lipolytica, and Pichia pastoris, have already been engineered to produce some polyphenols. However, there is still a long way to go before these compounds can be produced by heterologous organisms at an industrial scale. In this chapter, we review the recent advances in the production of polyphenolic compounds using yeasts as heterologous hosts, as well as several synthetic biology approaches used to improve such production.