The valorization of lignin is critical for the economic viability of the bioeconomy. Microbial metabolism is advantageous for handling the myriad of aromatic compounds resulting from lignin chemical or enzymatic depolymerization. Coupling aromatic metabolism to fatty acid biosynthesis makes possible the production of biofuels, oleochemicals, and other fine/bulk chemicals derived from lignin. Our previous work identified Cutaneotrichosporon oleaginosus as a yeast that could accumulate nearly 70% of its dry cell weight as lipids using aromatics as a sole carbon source. Expanding on this, other oleaginous yeast species were investigated for the metabolism of lignin-relevant monoaromatics. Thirty-six oleaginous yeast species from the Phaff yeast collection were screened for growth on several aromatic compounds representing S-, G-, and H- type lignin. The analysis reported in this study suggests that aromatic metabolism is largely segregated to the Cutaenotrichosporon, Trichosporon, and Rhodotorula clades. Each species tested within each clade has different properties with respect to the aromatics metabolized and the concentrations of aromatics tolerated. The combined analysis suggests that Cutaneotrichosporon yeast are the best suited to broad spectrum aromatic metabolism and support its development as a model system for aromatic metabolism in yeast.

木质素的增价对于生物经济的经济可行性至关重要。微生物代谢对于处理由木质素化学或酶促解聚产生的多种芳族化合物是有利的。芳香族代谢与脂肪酸生物合成的耦合使得生产木质素衍生的生物燃料，油性化学品和其他精细/大宗化学品成为可能。我们以前的工作确定了油菜角皮病菌作为一种酵母，利用芳香族化合物作为唯一碳源，它可以将其干细胞重量的近70％积累为脂质。对此进行扩展，研究了其他油质酵母种类与木质素相关的单芳香族化合物的代谢。筛选了来自Phaff酵母收集物中的36种含油酵母物种在代表S型，G型和H型木质素的几种芳香族化合物上的生长情况。该分析报告的这项研究表明，芳香的代谢主要是分离到Cutaenotrichosporon，毛孢子菌和红酵母分支。在每个进化枝中测试的每个物种在代谢的芳香族化合物和容许的芳香族化合物浓度方面都有不同的特性。综合分析表明Cutaneotrichosporon酵母最适合广谱芳香代谢，并支持其发展为酵母芳香代谢的模型系统。