AUTHOR=Chen Yongcan , Guo Erpeng , Zhang Jianzhi , Si Tong 

TITLE=Advances in RNAi-Assisted Strain Engineering in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioengineering-and-biotechnology/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2020.00731

DOI=10.3389/fbioe.2020.00731

ISSN=2296-4185

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</italic> is a widely used eukaryotic model and microbial cell factory. RNA interference (RNAi) is a conserved regulatory mechanism among eukaryotes but absent from <italic>S. cerevisiae</italic>. Recent reconstitution of RNAi machinery in <italic>S. cerevisiae</italic> enables the use of this powerful tool for strain engineering. Here we first discuss the introduction of heterologous RNAi pathways in <italic>S. cerevisiae</italic>, and the design of various expression cassettes of RNAi precursor reagents for tunable, dynamic, and genome-wide regulation. We then summarize notable examples of RNAi-assisted functional genomics and metabolic engineering studies in <italic>S. cerevisiae</italic>. We conclude with the future challenges and opportunities of RNAi-based approaches, as well as the potential of other regulatory RNAs in advancing yeast engineering.</p>