Project description:The Mellet-boinot is a promising process to be applied for second-generation ethanol production by wild yeasts. However, the impact of this process on the physiology and fermentative performance of the xylose-fermenting yeast Spathaspora passalidarum during second-generation ethanol production, remains elusive. Therefore, we have conducted a deep transcriptomic analysis of S. passalidarum during five consecutive fed-batches and cell recycles, to determine the differences and global responses of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) during the Melle-Boinot process. A physiological adaptation was observed resulting in an increase on ethanol yield, ethanol volumetric productivity and ethanol titer. Furthermore, a decrease of the subproduct xylitol was also observed. A transcriptional regulation was achieved from the third cell recycle onwards and this regulation was maintained afterwards. Analysing the DEGs during the recycles showed an up-regulation of genes involved in ATP synthesis, N-Glycan biosynthesis, oxidative phosphorylation and purine metabolism, indicating as important mechanisms for adaptation throughout recycles due increased ethanol concentration. Moreover, the TCA cycle anabolic pathway, gluconeogenesis, glycogen and trehalose biosynthesis, fatty acid and sterol biosynthesis were also affected mainly due ethanol concentration and osmotic pressure implying that cell energy was generated towards the production of cell wall components in order to S. passalidarum cells to thrive in consecutive recycles. Taken together these results demonstrate that the Melle-Boinot process is a worthy strategy to be applied on 2G ethanol fermentation by native yeasts. Furthermore, we highlight major microbial molecular strategies for xylose conversion providing relevant insights for further metabolic engineering aiming to improve 2G bioethanol production.
Project description:The main objective is to improve xylose fermentation by deletion of PHO80 gene in recombinant xylose-fermenting yeast strains. Microarray analysis was performed to investigate effects of PHO80 deletion on the gene expression profile of xylose-fermenting strains.
Project description:Investigation of whole genome gene expression level changes in Spathaspora passalidarum NRRL Y-27907 grown aerobically in xylose, compared to the same strain grown aerobically in glucose.
Project description:Investigation of whole genome gene expression level changes in Spathaspora passalidarum NRRL Y-27907 grown aerobically in xylose, compared to the same strain grown aerobically in glucose. A six array study using total RNA recovered from three separate cultures of Spathaspora passalidarum NRRL Y-27907 grown in glucose and three separate cultures of Spathaspora passalidarum NRRL Y-27907 grown in xylose. Each array measures the expression level of 362,487 probes (average probe length 54.5 +/- 4.0 nt) tiled across the Spathaspora passalidarum NRRL Y-27907 genome with a median spacing distance of 29 nt. During data processing, probes are filtered to include only those probes corresponding to annotated protein-coding genes.
Project description:The main objective is to improve xylose fermentation by deletion of PHO13 gene in Xylose isomerase (XI) harboring yeast strains. Microarray analysis was performed to investigate effects of PHO13 deletion on the gene expression prolife of xylose-fermenting strains.
Project description:The main objective is to improve xylose fermentation by deletion of PHO80 gene in recombinant xylose-fermenting yeast strains. Microarray analysis was performed to investigate effects of PHO80 deletion on the gene expression profile of xylose-fermenting strains. Samples for 2 strains (wild-type control, PHO80-deleted strain) were taken after 6h of xylose fermentation. Each sample was triplicated, resulting in a total of 6 samples.
Project description:Creating Saccharomyces yeasts capable of efficient fermentation of pentoses such as xylose remains a key challenge in the production of ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass. Metabolic engineering of industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains has yielded xylose-fermenting strains, but these strains have not yet achieved industrial viability due largely to xylose fermentation being prohibitively slower than that of glucose. Recently, it has been shown that naturally occurring xylose-utilizing Saccharomyces species exist. Uncovering the genetic architecture of such strains will shed further light on xylose metabolism, suggesting additional engineering approaches or possibly even the development of xylose-fermenting yeasts that are not genetically modified. We previously identified a hybrid yeast strain, the genome of which is largely Saccharomyces uvarum, which has the ability to grow on xylose as the sole carbon source. Despite the sterility of this hybrid strain, we were able to develop novel methods to genetically characterize its xylose utilization phenotype, using bulk segregant analysis in conjunction with high-throughput sequencing. We found that its growth in xylose is governed by at least two genetic loci: one of the loci maps to a known xylose-pathway gene, a novel allele of the aldo-keto reductase gene GRE3, while a second locus maps to an allele of APJ1, a chaperonin gene not previously connected to xylose metabolism. Our work demonstrates that the power of sequencing combined with bulk segregant analysis can also be applied to a non-genetically-tractable hybrid strain that contains a complex, polygenic trait, and it identifies new avenues for metabolic engineering as well as for construction of non-genetically modified xylose-fermenting strains.