Engineering yeast energetics for efficient anaerobic biosynthesis of green chemicals from lignocellulose

Economic feasibility of the microbial conversion of lignocellulosic sugars into value-added chemicals depends on achieving close to maximum theoretical yields during fermentations.

In terms of upper theoretical limits, the metabolic potential of the ubiquitous yeast cell factory Saccharomyces cerevisiae remains underexploited.

This project therefore aims to improve the energetics of anaerobic metabolism in S. cerevisiae through a combination of engineering sugar transport as well as assembly of energy-saving pathways ultimately configured for biosynthesis lactate and other green chemicals.

S. cerevisiae strains engineered to assimilate xylose and cellobiose without carbon catabolite repression will be employed to enable simultaneous conversion of lignocellulosic sugars into green chemicals.

The project combines the applicant’s previous experience in yeast system biology and biotechnology with the synthetic microbiology research platform at the Department of Industrial Biotechnology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

The project will combine ultra-precise genome editing tools with data-assisted strain design algorithms as well as advanced pipelines for yeast evolution and a high-throughput platform for testing engineered strains.

The proposed bioprocess design will explore metabolic constraints during consumption of lignocellulosic sugars at near-theoretical fermentation yields, which is expected to greatly contribute to the development of improved yeast biorefineries.