Second generation yeast about to rise
With their latest genetically modified yeast, TU Delft researchers think they can boost bioethanol production from agricultural waste. “Within two years the first full-scale plants for second generation bioethanol will have started production.” Microbiologist Victor Guadalupe Medina added only one gene to the yeast genome. He killed three birds with one stone: no glycerol formation, higher ethanol yields and consumption of toxic acetate. (Photo: Kluyver Laboratory) Bioethanol is currently the largest product of industrial biotechnology, accounting for an annual world production of 65 billion litres, which is mainly intended as fuel for cars. Just like beer and wine, bioethanol is made by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae from sugars obtained from plant biomass. “With such huge quantities, each amelioration of the fermentation process leading to some percentages more yield has a big impact on the industry”, says professor Jack Pronk. He and his colleagues from the Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation genetically modified yeast, enabling it to produce about ten percent more ethanol. Their discovery was published last week in the scientific journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The lead author of the article, Victor Guadalupe Medina (MSc), added a single gene from a bacterium to the yeast, which, in addition to sugar, enabled it to also convert acetate to ethanol. At the same time, Medina knocked out two yeast genes required for the transformation of sugars into glycerol instead of ethanol. Both acetate and glycerol are undesirable byproducts of the bioethanol production process.
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