Scheffersomyces stipitis: development of cell factories beyond ethanol production

The yeast Scheffersomyces stipitis has long been studied especially for its natural ability to metabolize hemicellulose derived sugars and oligosaccharides. Thanks to these metabolic features, the main focus of scientific studies on S. stipitis was the possibility to produce ethanol via fermentation of sugar streams from lignocellulosic biomass. However, S. stipitis-based processes for bioethanol production were never considered for process scale-up, because of low efficiency and stringent process control. Nonetheless, the studies on ethanol were essential to acquire a rather deep knowledge on the physiology and metabolism of S. stipitis that were necessary for the development of biomanufacturing processes beyond ethanol. In this book chapter, we focus on processes based on the use of wild type or engineered S. stipitis strains for the production of bulk or added value chemicals other than ethanol. The potential of S. stipitis is highlighted by reviewing research studies that, while aiming at a specific bioproduction, also shed light on still unexplored metabolic features of this yeast.