Engineered Yeast Produces More Succinic Acid

Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Princeton University have made a breakthrough in producing succinic acid, a valuable industrial chemical, using engineered yeast. By re-engineering the metabolism of the yeast Issatchenkia orientalis, the team achieved a significant increase in production yield, bringing the process closer to large-scale commercial use.

The study, published in Nature Communications, used a strategy called “decompartmentalization” to increase the availability of NADH, a coenzyme critical for energy transfer within cells. The researchers moved the energy-producing systems from the mitochondria into the cytosol to make the yeast produce more succinic acid efficiently. “These advances bring us closer to greener manufacturing processes that benefit both the environment and the economy,” said Vinh Tran, primary author of the study.

The new method boosted succinic acid yield to 0.85 grams per gram of glucose, reducing the minimum product selling price (MPSP) from $1.30 to 97 cents per kilogram. “That is huge. For industrial chemicals, even a few cents is a big reduction,” said Huimin Zhao, CABBI Conversion Theme Leader and professor at Illinois. The research team is also applying the approach to other bio-based chemicals, paving the way for more sustainable alternatives to petrochemical production.

For more information, read the article from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.