Engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a consolidated bioprocessing host to produce cellulosic ethanol: recent advancements and current challenges

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass, a rich and inexpensive source of fermentable and renewable carbon, is the most abundant material on earth. Microbial bioprocessing of lignocellulosic biomass to produce biofuels (bioethanol, biobutanol, biodiesel) is a sustainable blueprint to reduce our depleting energy reserves and carbon footprint. Saccharomyces cerevisiae, being an excellent industrial ethanologenic organism, is an ideal candidate to engineer as a consolidated bio-processing (CBP) host, a concept that integrates the different steps of cellulosic ethanol production, from hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose and fermentation of glucose to ethanol in one step. Owing to the developments in the field of genetic engineering and sequencing technologies, research in the past two decades have made pivotal achievements to realize CBP enabling yeast suited for industrial applications. However, overcoming major limitations such as incomplete substrate catabolism, low titres of heterologous protein expression, sub-optimal operational conditions and impediment due to toxic inhibitors/by-products accumulation is still challenging. This review focuses on the progress achieved in constructing S. cerevisiae to produce bioethanol in a CBP framework. The different techniques of developing cellulolytic yeast strains are initially explained followed by relevant strategies to tackle the key bottlenecks associated with the process. Additionally, engineering efforts towards designing hemicellulose-derived sugar utilizing yeast strains are discussed.