Applications of the Methylotrophic Yeast Komagataella phaffii in the Context of Modern Biotechnology
Lídia Maria Pepe de Moraes, Henrique Fetzner Marques, Viviane Castelo Branco Reis, Cíntia Marques Coelho, Matheus de Castro Leitão, Alexsandro Sobreira Galdino, Thaís Paiva Porto de Souza, Luíza Cesca Piva, Ana Laura Alfonso Pérez, Débora Trichez, João Ricardo Moreira de Almeida, Janice Lisboa De Marco, Fernando Araripe Gonçalves Torres
Abstract
Komagataella phaffii (formerly Pichia pastoris) is a methylotrophic yeast widely used in laboratories around the world to produce recombinant proteins. Given its advantageous features, it has also gained much interest in the context of modern biotechnology. In this review, we present the utilization of K. phaffii as a platform to produce several products of economic interest such as biopharmaceuticals, renewable chemicals, fuels, biomaterials, and food/feed products. Finally, we present synthetic biology approaches currently used for strain engineering, aiming at the production of new bioproducts.