Home • Rhodosporidium toruloides IFO0880 v2.0
Please note that this organism is for archival use only. Please see the current Rhodosporidium toruloides IFO0880 v4.0 site for the latest data and information.
Photo of Rhodosporidium toruloides IFO0880 v2.0
DIC image of R. toruloides under low N conditions. Note the large lipid bodies inside each cell, containing mostly triglycerides. Image by Jeffrey Skerker
Photo of Rhodosporidium toruloides IFO0880 v2.0
DIC image of R. toruloides teliospores. Teliospores remain attached to the mycelium. Teliospores germinate to produce basidiospores, which then germinate again to produce haploid yeast. Image by Jeffrey Skerker
Photo of Rhodosporidium toruloides IFO0880 v2.0
Successful mating of R. toruloides. Brown teliospores are produced on MYP agar plates after mixing MAT A1 and MAT A2 haploids. Image by Jeffrey Skerker

Rhodosporidium toruloides is a nonpathogenic, red-colored basidiomycetous fungus. It is an oleaginous yeast that can accumulate lipids over 70% of its dry cell weight.
Under low nitrogen growth conditions it accumulates lipids and carotenoids. It is currently being explored as an alternative host for the production of advanced biofuels and chemicals.  In addition, it can serve as a new model system for understanding the genetic control of lipid productivity and for comparative studies with other oleaginous yeast, such as Yarrowia and Lipomyces spp.   The strains IFO0880, IFO0559, IFO1236 were obtained from NBRC culture collection (http://www.nbrc.nite.go.jp).  For further information, please email: [email protected] and [email protected].

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