Review of the Current State and Prospects of Oleaginous Yeasts Biotechnology (Systematic Scoping Review)

Introduction. The global food crisis is having an increasing impact on the market and the development of the food industry, creating demands for alternative sources of biologically valuable substances. The transition to renewable resources and microbial technologies can enhance the sustainability of the food system. Microbial oils have high nutritional value and environmental benefits compared to traditional plant oils and animal fats.

Purpose. The aim of the study is to summarize current data on various lipid-producing microorganisms, and, in particular, on the use of oleaginous yeasts for producing microbial oil, as well as to assess the prospects for their biotechnological use. 

Materials and Methods. Systematic review of scientific publications using PRISMA protocol, theoretical analysis and grouping of the obtained results. 

Results and Discussion. A targeted search was performed for scientific publications for 2018-2025 in the Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar and eLibrary databases by keywords in English and Russian ("oleaginous yeasts", "microbial oil", "yeast fatty acids", etc). The review includes 71 sources, the vast majority of which are articles in English from peer-reviewed journals relevant to the research topic. The trends of the global market of vegetable, animal and microbial oils are considered. The leading groups of lipid-producing microorganisms are analyzed and their features are described.  The main attention is paid to the consideration of oleaginous yeasts:  their lipid profile is presented, the process of lipid biosynthesis in yeast cells is described, and methods for increasing microbial oil yield through mutagenesis and genetic engineering are shown. The use of biotechnology for applying oleaginous yeasts in the production of biodiesel, analogues of food oils and feed additives has been studied. 

Conclusions. Oleaginous yeast is a promising source of fats capable of diversifying the raw material base of the food and fuel industry. Further improvement of strain breeding methods and cultivation technologies is required to increase the efficiency of microbial oil production.

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