Novel methods for accelerating the development of more inhibitor tolerant yeast strains for cellulosic ethanol production

Conference poster, 2018

Production of fuels and chemicals from biomass is a crucial step towards a society not depending on fossil resources. Second generation bioethanol, with lignocellulose material as feedstock, is a promising alternative to first generation bioethanol produced from sugar-based raw materials. Still, in order for biofuels to substitute for fossil based fuels the production needs to be significantly more efficient and price competitive. One way to tackle the suboptimal productivity is to develop production hosts with increased tolerance towards inhibitors found in lignocellulosic hydrolysates.

Our focus is on accelerating the design-build-test-learn cycle for making industrial yeast strains for conversion of lignocellulosic biomass. An efficient, marker-free genome editing strategy for engineering polyploid strains is needed for engineering the robustness of industrial yeasts. Here, we combine CRISPR/Cas9 technologies for strain engineering with high-throughput strain analysis using microbioreactors. We have developed a method to study hydrolysate tolerance, adaptation and ethanol production capacity at microscale, directly in lignocellulosic hydrolysates. This way, we can accelerate the development of more robust production hosts as well as gain novel understanding on microbial physiology.