6. Expression of a plant protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: an example of genetic engineering to improve lipid production

The total fatty acid content of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is around 5% of its dry mass. This content can vary according to culture conditions, as mentioned above. We wanted to find out if it was possible to identify other approaches for increasing lipid storage capacity in this yeast. To this end, we focused on the lipid storage organelle: the lipid body. S. cerevisiae generally contains only a few small lipid bodies (150 to 200 nm in diameter). Our working hypothesis is that by altering the size of the lipid body, it should be possible to increase the cell's storage capacity. To this end, we focused on structural proteins associated with lipid bodies specialized in increased lipid storage, such as in adipocytes or plant seeds. In seeds, these are the oleosin family. There is no equivalent protein in S. cerevisiae.

In the seed, there are three main families of proteins...