Genetic engineering of Saccharomyces boulardii: Tools, strategies and advances for enhanced probiotic and therapeutic applications

Saccharomyces boulardii is a probiotic yeast that has been extensively studied in clinical trials, and it is used to treat several gut disorders. Its high survivability and the ability of secreting recombinant proteins, make S. boulardii an attractive delivery vessel for molecules of interest in the gut. Despite its natural mechanisms of action still not being fully understood, genetic engineering offers the advantage of rationally design the delivery of molecules of interest to the gut. As a yeast, S. boulardii can produce complex proteins with post translational modifications, an advantage when compared with bacterial probiotics. In addition, antibiotics can be co-administered with this yeast, increasing gut residence times and improving the positive effects on human health.

This review aims to cover the genetic engineering advances and applications of genetically engineered S. boulardii. The similarity of this yeast with S. cerevisiae has made it possible to develop tools like CRISPR-Cas9, plasmid expression systems and gene integration techniques that have allowed the modification of S. boulardii. These genetic tools and modifications are discussed in detail according to the state of the art highlighting the most effective ones. Genetic engineering has increased the possible applications of S. boulardii, including immune response modulation, enhanced pathogen neutralization, anti-obesity strategies, vitamin production. Others have used these tools to tackle its limitations as probiotic compared to others commonly used such as lactic acid bacteria, increasing its residence times and allowing the development of biocontainment strategies. Current limitations and future directions of the field such as scalability, standardization and the lack of clinical data are also highlighted and discussed.