Metabolic Engineering of Yarrowia lipolytica for Enhanced De Novo Biosynthesis of Icaritin

. By optimizing the metabolic pathways, including enhancing the supply of DMAPP via mevalonate pathway modifications, and fine-tuning the expression and catalytic efficiency of EsPT through truncation strategies, we significantly improved ICT yield to 247.02 mg/L─the highest microbial ICT titer reported to date. These findings lay a solid foundation for the large-scale industrial production of ICT and offer valuable insights into the biosynthesis of other flavonoid plant natural products.