**3.2 Evolutionary engineering applied to yeast: why and how?**

Yeast has been the focus of many evolutionary studies due to its potential to generate academic knowledge as well as its broad range of applications. Its success in the evolutionary context is related to different advantages such as the high number of individuals that can be obtained within the same population, the easiness of maintenance/growth of populations with relatively low costs, and a fast generation time. Additionally, evolutionary engineering is a non-GMO technique. As explained before, no direct human manipulation occurs since the yeast itself improves and evolves its genetic background with natural mutations. Thus, evolved yeasts are perfectly safe and can be used in any food and/or beverage context without restrictions. Finally, another positive feature is the simplicity and empirical way on how the evolutionary engineering can be performed [21]. Contrary to other approaches, no genetic characterization or deep knowledge about the selected yeast is required. Nonetheless, when planning a yeast evolutionary engineering, key parameters need to be defined.
