Global transcription machinery engineering in Yarrowia lipolytica

Global transcription machinery engineering (gTME) is a strategy for optimizing complex phenotypes in microbes by manipulating transcription factors (TFs) and their downstream transcriptional regulatory networks (TRN). In principle, gTME leads to a focused but comprehensive optimization of a microbe, also enabling the engineering of nonpathway functionalities, like stress resistance, protein expression, or growth rate. A link between a TF and a desired phenotype is to be established for a rationally designed gTME. For use in a high-throughput format with extensive libraries of TRN-engineered clones tested under multiple conditions, well-developed culturing and analytical protocols are needed, to reveal the pleiotropic effects of the TFs. This mini-review summarizes the gTME strategies and TFs described under different contexts in Yarrowia lipolytica. The outcomes of the gTME strategy application are also addressed, demonstrating its effectiveness in engineering complex, industrially relevant traits in Y. lipolytica.