Alternative Genetic Engineering Approach for Obtaining High-Ethanol Tolerant/High-Ethanol Fermenting Yeasts

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have reported the successful engineering of a high-ethanol fermenting yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) with improved glucose/ethanol tolerance, by a technique called “global transcription machinery engineering (gTME)”.

Reported in the September issue of Science, the authors described global transcription machinery engineering (gTME) as “an approach for reprogramming gene transcription to elicit cellular traits (phenotypes) that are important for technological applications”. By using this approach, the researchers obtained a high-ethanol tolerant yeast strain which could ferment glucose to ethanol that is 50% higher than normal yeast. The method, the authors report, can “provide a route to complex phenotypes that are not readily accessible by traditional methods”.