New strains, new methods - towards a sustainable bioethanol production

Research Project, 2019 – 2021

Ethanol production from domestic biomass is crucial for reaching Sweden’s targets for fossil free transportation. We will use state-of-the-art genome editing technology (CRISPR/Cas9) and our high throughput screening platform for developing improved bioethanol production hosts. We will engineer naturally robust isolates and industrial yeast strains to convert not only glucose but also xylose, arabinose and acetate into ethanol, while displaying an increased tolerance towards inhibitors found in lignocellulosic hydrolysates. By studying the impact of gene alterations in different strains, novel understanding of stress responses, of what makes yeast productive and tolerant, will be gained. The underlying genetic differences will be identified through transcriptomics, by measuring the expression of all genes in a strain. Finally, beneficial alterations identified will be combined. The aim is strains showing a 25% increased xylose consumption rate, while co-consuming arabinose and acetate.