Disrupting a phospholipase A 2 gene increasing lipid accumulation in the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica

Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) is a diverse superfamily that hydrolyzes fatty acyl ester bonds at the sn‐2 position of phospholipids. The correlation between phospholipid metabolism and the anabolism of neutral lipids remains unclear in yeasts. This study aims to explore the effects of PLA2 on lipid accumulation in the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. This study identified an actively expressed phospholipase A2 gene (PLA2‐3, YAIL0_E16060g) in Y. lipolytica by quantitative PCR analysis. The gene PLA2‐3 was disrupted in the strain po1gΔKu70 by homologous recombination and in the strain po1g‐G3 by a CRISPR‐Cas9 system, which caused an increase in stress sensitivity while the cell growth was not altered under fermentative conditions. Lipid production was performed in both flasks and bioreactors. The results showed that the lipid titre and lipid content were improved over 25% and 8–30%, respectively, in PLA2‐3 disrupted strains compared to the controls. Disruption of the phospholipase PLA2‐3 gene could effectively improve lipid production in Y. lipolytica. This study presented a strategy on improving the lipid production of oleaginous yeasts and a similar strategy might be used in other oleaginous microbes.