Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used in fermentations for millennia and metabolically engineered for decades. While its genetic system is powerful, its limited capacities for ATP and NADPH production along with the limited range of substrates that it will use for growth make it less useful for various biotechnological applications. Komagataella (Pichia) pastoris along with Ogataea (Hansenula) polymorpha are better for heterologous expression due to their high protein yields and thermotolerance while growing on methanol. Yarrowia lipolytica and Lipomyces starkeyi accumulate large amounts of lipid production from a wide range of substrates. Scheffersomyces stipitis, Spathaspora passalidarum and Pachysolen tannophilus natively ferment cellulosic and hemicellulosic sugars, and Candida arabinofermentans has a rare native ability to ferment L-arabinose. Pichia membranifaciens is halotolerant, and ethanol tolerant and produces acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate, and iso-amyl acetate. Dekkera bruxellensis is a facultative anaerobe tolerant to low pH and high ethanol levels. Wickerhamomyces anomalus grows on a wide range of carbon sources at low pH under high osmotic pressure and with little or no oxygen. Debaryomyces hansenii is a cryotolerant, osmotolerant and halotolerant marine yeast that can grow in up to 24% brine, due to its high capacity for glycerol production. Cyberlindnera jadinii (Candida utilis) is used as a fodder yeast and as a dietary supplement. It grows aerobically on pentoses and tolerates lignin by-products, which has made it attractive for fermentation of spent sulfite liquor. The genomic features defining these biotechnologically useful traits will be described and compared where they can be discerned.
