ARS | Publication request: High-throughput automated molecular biology platform for production of fuel ethanol yeast capable of expressing high-value heterologous proteins

Submitted to: Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: June 8, 2011
Publication Date: June 8, 2011
Citation: Hughes, S.R., Moser, B.R., Harmsen, A.J., Bischoff, K.M., Jones, M.A., Pinkleman, R., Bang, S.S., Doll, K.M., Tasaki, K., Qureshi, N., Liu, S., Saha, B.C., Jackson, Jr, J.S., Cotta, M.A., Rich, J.O., Caimi, P. 2011. High-throughput automated molecular biology platform for production of fuel ethanol yeast capable of expressing high-value heterologous proteins. Proceedings of the Seventh International Starch Technology Conference. p. 21-29.

Technical Abstract: The majority of fuel ethanol currently produced in the United States is made from corn starch. Projections indicate that corn supplies will not be able to meet the increasing demand for biofuels. Lignocellulosic biomass, an abundant and renewable carbon source, has the potential to supplement starch feedstocks for the production of fuel ethanol, but current technology is constrained by production costs. The profitability of ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass will be improved if high-value co-products are also generated. Current processes for fuel ethanol production from starch yield substantial amounts of corn oil as a byproduct. Corn oil triacylglycerides are converted to fatty acid ethyl esters (biodiesel) and glycerol by transesterification with ethanol. One method of catalyzing this transesterification reaction is with lipase enzymes. An integrated biorefinery combining starch ethanol and cellulosic ethanol facilities may become cost-effective if biodiesel is produced as a co-product using lipase-catalyzed single-step column transesterification with low-cost lipases expressed in large quantities in a recombinant yeast strain capable of cellulosic and corn ethanol production. We have engineered such a recombinant ethanologenic yeast strain to express a lipase that could be used for biodiesel production from the corn oil byproduct of the starch ethanol process in an integrated biorefinery.