FIGURE 3 The fast-expanding repertoire of biodesign tools are moving the barriers beyond the frontiers of yeast research. These novel concepts include the construction of fully synthetic yeast genomes, minimal genomes; supernumerary pan-genome neochromosomes; synthetic metagenomes; and synthetic yeast communities, synthetic yeast biosensors and even specialized synthetic yeast strains to augment the supply of fermented food during long-range space travel. These concepts are at varying stages of development with plenty of technological pitfalls to overcome before such model synthetic model strains and systems would illuminate some of the yeasts’ genetic blind spots and ill-understood aspects of yeast resilience and fermentation performance.