Adaptive evolution and selection of stress-resistant Saccharomyces cerevisiae for very high-gravity bioethanol fermentation

Abstract

Background: In industrial yeasts, selection and breeding for resistance to multiple stresses is a focus of current research. The objective of this study was to investigate the tolerance to multiple stresses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae obtained through an adaptive laboratory evolution strategy involving a repeated liquid nitrogen freeze-thaw process coupled with multi-stress shock selection. We also assessed the related resistance mechanisms and very high-gravity (VHG) bioethanol production of this strain.

Results: Elite S. cerevisiae strain YF10-5, exhibiting improved VHG fermentation capacity and stress resistance to osmotic pressure and ethanol, was isolated following ten consecutive rounds of liquid nitrogen freeze-thaw treatment followed by plate screening under osmotic and ethanol stress. The ethanol yield of YF10-5 was 16% higher than that of the parent strain during 35% (w/v) glucose fermentation. Furthermore, there was upregulation of three genes (HSP26, HSP30, and HSP104) encoding heat-shock proteins involved in the stress response, one gene (TPS1) involved in the synthesis of trehalose, and three genes (ADH1, HXK1, and PFK1) involved in ethanol metabolism and intracellular trehalose accumulation in YF10-5 yeast cells, indicating increased stress tolerance and fermentative capacity. YF10-5 also showed excellent fermentation performance during the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of VHG sweet potato mash, producing 13.40% (w/ v) ethanol, which corresponded to 93.95% of the theoretical ethanol yield.

Conclusions: A multiple-stress-tolerant yeast clone was obtained using adaptive evolution by a freeze-thaw method coupled with stress shock selection. The selected robust yeast strain exhibits potential for bioethanol production through VHG fermentation.