Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology (Jan 2022)

Metabolic and Evolutionary Engineering of Diploid Yeast for the Production of First- and Second-Generation Ethanol

  • Yang Sun,
  • Meilin Kong,
  • Xiaowei Li,
  • Qi Li,
  • Qian Xue,
  • Junyan Hou,
  • Zefang Jia,
  • Zhipeng Lei,
  • Wei Xiao,
  • Shuobo Shi,
  • Limin Cao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2021.835928
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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Despite a growing preference for second-generation (2G) ethanol in industries, its application is severely restricted owing to a major obstacle of developing a suitable yeast strain for fermentation using feedstock biomasses. In this study, a yeast strain, Saccharomyces cerevisiae A31Z, for 2G bioethanol production was developed from an industrial strain, Angel, using metabolic engineering by the incorporation of gene clusters involved in the xylose metabolism combined with adaptive evolution for evolving its anti-inhibitory properties. This strain outcompeted its ancestors in xylose utilization and subsequent ethanol production and manifested higher tolerance against common inhibitors from lignocellulosic hydrolysates, and also it lowered the production of glycerol by-product. Furthermore, A31Z outperformed in ethanol production using industrial hydrolysate from dried distillers grains with solubles and whole corn. Overall, this study provided a promising path for improving 2G bioethanol production in industries using S. cerevisiae.

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