Versatile regulated promoter for Yarrowia lipolytica

The non-conventional yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is an emerging cell factory for the production of recombinant protein and metabolites. Still, there is a lack of versatile inducible promoters in this yeast. In the present study, we isolated and characterised the promoter of the recently discovered gene EYK1 (encoding an erythrulose kinase). The promoter pEYK1 shows high induction levels in presence of erythritol and erythrulose, while its induction is impaired in presence of glycerol and glucose. Based on pEYK1 upstream activating sequence, we developed a series of promoters with enhanced induction levels. The induction levels of pEYK1 were also improved in strain eyk1Δ, allowing to use erythritol and erythrulose as free inducers.