Rhodosporidium toruloides I. Banno (1967) Rhodotorula toruloides is a species of oleaginous yeast.

It is a red basidiomycete isolated from the wood pulp of conifers and naturally accumulates carotenoids, neutral lipids, and enzymes relevant to the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

[1] It is able to metabolize all major components of lignocellulosic biomass (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) and is a potential host for metabolic engineering to produce terpenes and fatty acids.

[2][3] R. toruloides accumulates lipids within intracellular lipid bodies under nutrient-limiting conditions and could potentially be a source for engineering of lipid-production pathways.

[4] R. toruloides has been linked to bovine mastitis, but its epidemiology has not yet been reported.