title: Yarrowia lipolytica: safety assessment of an oleaginous yeast with a great industrial potential.
abstract: Yarrowia lipolytica has been developed as a production host for a large variety of biotechnological applications. Efficacy and safety studies have demonstrated the safe use of Yarrowia-derived products containing significant proportions of Yarrowia biomass (as for DuPont's eicosapentaenoic acid-rich oil) or with the yeast itself as the final product (as for British Petroleum's single-cell protein product). The natural occurrence of the species in food, particularly cheese, other dairy products and meat, is a further argument supporting its safety. The species causes rare opportunistic infections in severely immunocompromised or otherwise seriously ill people with other underlying diseases or conditions. The infections can be treated effectively by the use of regular antifungal drugs, and in some cases even disappeared spontaneously. Based on our assessment, we conclude that Y. lipolytica is a "safe-to-use" organism.
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences , Utrecht , The Netherlands .
authors.forename: Marizeth
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Groenewald
authors.forename: Teun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Boekhout
authors.forename: Cécile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Neuvéglise
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gaillardin
authors.forename: Piet W M
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: van Dijck
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wyss
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000379:methods*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D007218:Industrial Microbiology / Q000379:methods*; D009894:Opportunistic Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D025062:Yarrowia / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents