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Genomic reconstruction to improve bioethanol and ergosterol production of industrial yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

  • Bioenergy/Biofuels/Biochemicals
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is the common yeast used in the fields of bread making, brewing, and bioethanol production. Growth rate, stress tolerance, ethanol titer, and byproducts yields are some of the most important agronomic traits of S. cerevisiae for industrial applications. Here, we developed a novel method of constructing S. cerevisiae strains for co-producing bioethanol and ergosterol. The genome of an industrial S. cerevisiae strain, ZTW1, was first reconstructed through treatment with an antimitotic drug followed by sporulation and hybridization. A total of 140 mutants were selected for ethanol fermentation testing, and a significant positive correlation between ergosterol content and ethanol production was observed. The highest performing mutant, ZG27, produced 7.9 % more ethanol and 43.2 % more ergosterol than ZTW1 at the end of fermentation. Chromosomal karyotyping and proteome analysis of ZG27 and ZTW1 suggested that this breeding strategy caused large-scale genome structural variations and global gene expression diversities in the mutants. Genetic manipulation further demonstrated that the altered expression activity of some genes (such as ERG1, ERG9, and ERG11) involved in ergosterol synthesis partly explained the trait improvement in ZG27.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31370132 and 31401058).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, 310058, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

    Ke Zhang, Mengmeng Tong, Kehui Gao, Yanan Di, Pinmei Wang, Chunfang Zhang, Xuechang Wu & Daoqiong Zheng

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  1. Ke Zhang
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  2. Mengmeng Tong
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  3. Kehui Gao
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  4. Yanan Di
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  5. Pinmei Wang
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  6. Chunfang Zhang
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  7. Xuechang Wu
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  8. Daoqiong Zheng
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Correspondence to Xuechang Wu or Daoqiong Zheng.

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Ke Zhang and Mengmeng Tong have contributed equally to this work.

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Zhang, K., Tong, M., Gao, K. et al. Genomic reconstruction to improve bioethanol and ergosterol production of industrial yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae . J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 42, 207–218 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-014-1556-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-014-1556-7

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