Xylose utilization stimulates mitochondrial production of isobutanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Abstract
Abstract Background Branched-chain higher alcohols (BCHAs), including isobutanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol, are promising advanced biofuels, superior to ethanol due to their higher energy density and better compatibility with existing gasoline infrastructure. Compartmentalizing the isobutanol biosynthetic pathway in yeast mitochondria is an effective way to produce BCHAs from glucose. However, to improve the sustainability of biofuel production, there is great interest in developing strains and processes to utilize lignocellulosic biomass, including its hemicellulose component, which is mostly composed of the pentose xylose. Results In this work, we rewired the xylose isomerase assimilation and mitochondrial isobutanol production pathways in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae . We then increased the flux through these pathways by making gene deletions of BAT1 , ALD6 , and PHO13 , to develop a strain (YZy197) that produces as much as 4 g/L of BCHAs (3.10 ± 0.18 g isobutanol/L and 0.91 ± 0.02 g 2-methyl-1-butanol/L) from xylose. This represents approximately a 28-fold improvement on the highest isobutanol titers obtained from xylose previously reported in yeast and the first report of 2-methyl-1-butanol produced from xylose. The yield of total BCHAs is 57.2 ± 5.2 mg/g xylose, corresponding to ~ 14% of the maximum theoretical yield. Respirometry experiments show that xylose increases mitochondrial activity by as much as 7.3-fold compared tomore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Urbana, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1618761
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1571260
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0019363; SC0018420
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Biotechnology for Biofuels
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Biotechnology for Biofuels Journal Volume: 12 Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1754-6834
- Publisher:
- Springer Science + Business Media
- Country of Publication:
- Netherlands
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 09 BIOMASS FUELS; isobutanol; xylose; 2-methyl-1-butanol; branched-chain higher alcohols; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; mitochondrial engineering
Citation Formats
Zhang, Yanfei, Lane, Stephan, Chen, Jhong-Min, Hammer, Sarah K., Luttinger, Jake, Yang, Lifeng, Jin, Yong-Su, and Avalos, José L. Xylose utilization stimulates mitochondrial production of isobutanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Netherlands: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1186/s13068-019-1560-2.
Zhang, Yanfei, Lane, Stephan, Chen, Jhong-Min, Hammer, Sarah K., Luttinger, Jake, Yang, Lifeng, Jin, Yong-Su, & Avalos, José L. Xylose utilization stimulates mitochondrial production of isobutanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-019-1560-2
Zhang, Yanfei, Lane, Stephan, Chen, Jhong-Min, Hammer, Sarah K., Luttinger, Jake, Yang, Lifeng, Jin, Yong-Su, and Avalos, José L. Fri .
"Xylose utilization stimulates mitochondrial production of isobutanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol in Saccharomyces cerevisiae". Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-019-1560-2.
@article{osti_1618761,
title = {Xylose utilization stimulates mitochondrial production of isobutanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol in Saccharomyces cerevisiae},
author = {Zhang, Yanfei and Lane, Stephan and Chen, Jhong-Min and Hammer, Sarah K. and Luttinger, Jake and Yang, Lifeng and Jin, Yong-Su and Avalos, José L.},
abstractNote = {Abstract Background Branched-chain higher alcohols (BCHAs), including isobutanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol, are promising advanced biofuels, superior to ethanol due to their higher energy density and better compatibility with existing gasoline infrastructure. Compartmentalizing the isobutanol biosynthetic pathway in yeast mitochondria is an effective way to produce BCHAs from glucose. However, to improve the sustainability of biofuel production, there is great interest in developing strains and processes to utilize lignocellulosic biomass, including its hemicellulose component, which is mostly composed of the pentose xylose. Results In this work, we rewired the xylose isomerase assimilation and mitochondrial isobutanol production pathways in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae . We then increased the flux through these pathways by making gene deletions of BAT1 , ALD6 , and PHO13 , to develop a strain (YZy197) that produces as much as 4 g/L of BCHAs (3.10 ± 0.18 g isobutanol/L and 0.91 ± 0.02 g 2-methyl-1-butanol/L) from xylose. This represents approximately a 28-fold improvement on the highest isobutanol titers obtained from xylose previously reported in yeast and the first report of 2-methyl-1-butanol produced from xylose. The yield of total BCHAs is 57.2 ± 5.2 mg/g xylose, corresponding to ~ 14% of the maximum theoretical yield. Respirometry experiments show that xylose increases mitochondrial activity by as much as 7.3-fold compared to glucose. Conclusions The enhanced levels of mitochondrial BCHA production achieved, even without disrupting ethanol byproduct formation, arise mostly from xylose activation of mitochondrial activity and are correlated with slow rates of sugar consumption.},
doi = {10.1186/s13068-019-1560-2},
journal = {Biotechnology for Biofuels},
number = 1,
volume = 12,
place = {Netherlands},
year = {2019},
month = {9}
}
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-019-1560-2
Web of Science
Figures / Tables:

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Works referencing / citing this record:
Xylose assimilation enhances the production of isobutanol in engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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Figures / Tables found in this record: