Multi-omics analysis and metabolic modeling of lignocellulosic carbon utilization in Rhodosporidium toruloides

An oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides is a promising host for converting lignocellulosic biomass to bioproducts and biofuels. In this work, we reconstructed the genome-scale metabolic network of Rhodosporidium toruloides using published metabolic network models and orthologous protein mapping. The reconstruction was manually curated using functional annotation and multi-omics data including transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and RB-TDNA sequencing. The developed metabolic model was validated against high-throughput growth phenotyping and gene fitness data. We used the developed model and multi-omics data to study R. toruloides metabolism including lipid accumulation and utilization of carbon sources derived from lignocellulosic biomass.