Glutathione Production by Yarrowia lipolytica Showing Both Methyglyoxal Resistance and a High Activity of Glutathione Synthetase

Abstract

Although Yarrowia lipolytica is an important host strain, there have so far been few studies on the production of glutathione by the strain. We therefore performed a study to obtain an improved strain of Y. lipolytica ATCC20688, which could produce a high yield of glutathione. First, the capability of glutathione production in the ATCC20688 strain was estimated. In comparison with other yeasts, the yield of this strain was higher than those in Pichia strains. Furthermore, this strain could produce glutathione by assimilating sodium oleate. We next performed mutation and gene cloning to improve the yield. After the yield of glutathione was improved in the isolated methylglyoxal-resistant mutant (MGR3), the glutathione synthetase gene was cloned into the MGR3 strain. By using this recombinant strain, we could reach the maximum yield and intracellular content of glutathione of 54 mg/L-medium and 30 mg/g-dry cell weight, respectively.