“…Besides its role as a model system, U. maydis is currently being developed as a production chassis for a wide range of biotechnological relevant compounds. This includes itaconic acid as a chemical platform molecule for biofuels, ustilagic acid and mannosylerythritol lipids (MEL) as biosurfactants, and various antibody formats as valuable proteins ( Teichmann et al, 2010 ; Feldbrügge et al, 2013 ; Sarkari et al, 2014 ; Terfrüchte et al, 2017 ; Becker et al, 2020 ). Furthermore, strains were generated to utilise cellobiose, xylan and polygalacturonic acid as a carbon source in the yeast phase, so that plant cell wall components including pectin can be used as starting point for sustainable production ( Geiser et al, 2016 ; Müller et al, 2018 ; Stoffels et al, 2020 ).…”