Yeast

Scientists are becoming increasingly aware of how the human microbiome, or the collection of microbes the live on and inside of us, has a major connection to health and human physiology. Microbial engineering, which changes the structure of the microbiome through methods such as probiotics, antibiotics, and microbe transplants, has been found to be a useful strategy for improving human health, but the mechanisms underlying this improvement are still unclear and difficult to test.

A team of scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a bioprocess using engineered yeast that completely and efficiently converted plant matter consisting of acetate and xylose into high-value bioproducts.

Lignocellulose, the woody material that gives plant cells their structure, is the most abundant raw material on Earth and has long been viewed as a source of renewable energy. It  contains primarily acetate and the sugars glucose and xylose, all of which are released during decomposition.

Scientists engineering valuable microbes for renewable fuels and bioproducts have developed a fast, efficient way to identify the most promising varieties.

Researchers have developed a triad of innovative tools to engineer low-pH-tolerant yeast Issatchenkia orientalis for production of valuable bioproducts from renewable biomass.

A paper published in Metabolic Engineering outlines the study’s three-pronged approach and its importance to the field of sustainable chemical production.

The quest to satisfy the sweet tooth without adding to the waistline has a new weapon in its arsenal: a strain of yeast that can metabolize lactose, the sugar in dairy products, into tagatose, a natural sweetener with less than half the calories of table sugar.

Much like human society, microbial communities have a division of labor. In these complex groups of microorganisms, different microbes are responsible for different tasks, such as the organization or delivery of cell functions.  

The CRISPR-Cas9 system has given researchers the power to precisely edit selected genes. Now, researchers have used it to develop a technology that can target any gene in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and turn it off by deleting single letters from its DNA sequence.

Team uses a cellulosic biofuels byproduct to increase ethanol yield

Scientists report in Nature Communications that they have engineered yeast to consume acetic acid, a previously unwanted byproduct of the process of converting plant leaves, stems and other tissues into biofuels. The innovation increases ethanol yield from lignocellulosic sources by about 10 percent.