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Champaign, Ill. (UPI) Aug 19, 2010 A genetically modified strain of yeast with a higher tolerance for alcohol could lead to more efficient and economical biofuel production, researchers say. A University of Illinois professor of microbial genomics says the modified yeast could improve microbial fermentation of biomass crops, a process that yields the alcohol-based fuels ethanol and iso-butanol as it converts sugars from biomass into biofuels, a university release said Thursday. "At a certain concentration, the biofuels that are being created become toxic to the yeast used in making them. Our goal was to find a gene or genes that reduce this toxic effect," said Yong-Su Jin, an assistant professor in the university's Department of Food Science said. Jin worked with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the microbe most often used in making ethanol, to identify four genes that improve tolerance to ethanol and iso-butanol. "We expect these genes will serve as key components of a genetic toolbox for breeding yeast with high ethanol tolerance for efficient ethanol fermentation," he said. "Identification of these genes should enable us to produce transportation fuels from biomass more economically and efficiently. It's a first step in understanding the cellular reaction that currently limits the production process."
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Outside View: Follow science on ethanolWashington (UPI) Aug 3, 2010 "Pump first, ask questions later" seems to be the message of over-eager ethanol advocates trying to pressure the U.S. government to approve an increase in the amount of ethanol in gasoline by up to 50 percent. Common sense tells us that we'd all be a lot better off asking questions first. Four members of the U.S. Congress - Democrats Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Mass ... read more |
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