Efficient biodegradation of aliphatic polyester by genetically engineered strains of the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica

The increased production and consumption of plastic materials in today's world has caused a huge number of environmental problems, the solution of which is now crucial to improving the state of nature of our planet. In this study, we expressed cutinases from Fusarium solani f. sp. pisi and from Trichoderma reesei, individually or in combination with overexpression of the native lipase Lip2 in the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. The engineered strains showed biodegradation activity toward polyester in the pH range between 4.0 and 9.0. The highest esterase activity was observed at pH 9.0 for the strain overexpressing cutinase from F. solani and lipase from Y. lipolytica, it reached 63.5 U ml−1, moreover this strain was capable to degrade 0.5 g of polycaprolactone film within 144 h of shake flask culture. The obtained results showed that natural capability of Y. lipolytica combined with metabolic engineering results in a highly efficient biodegradation process.