Prospecting genes of xylose metabolism of yeasts isolated from brazilian plague insects and functional expression in industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts strains

• Grant number: 15/05578-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2016
• End date: February 28, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Molecular Genetics and Genetics of Microorganisms
• Principal Investigator: Gonçalo Amarante Guimarães Pereira
• Grantee: Guilherme Borelli
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Commercial instability and the ecologically costly use of petroleum subproducts are the main reasons for the increase of research in biocompounds area. The ethanol production from sugarcane bagasse, second-generation ethanol (2G), is an alternative. The strains used industrially for the production of ethanol in Brazil, however, do not consume the major pentose present in sugarcane bagasse. Despite several attempts to obtain strains that consume these sugars, they still do not have a satisfactory performance with strains obtained to produce ethanol in industrial scale. Genes that will be explored in this work are presented as viable alternatives to solve this obstacle. Through prospecting xylose catabolism gene and transporter genes for efficient expression in industrial strains we expect to obtain a strain with high performance in ethanol production. These genes will be prospected from a collection of consuming xylose yeasts, previously built. Some strains that exhibit high uptake rate of xylose present in the collection and no published genome, will have the genome sequenced to obtain the genes of interest. Finally, the isolated genes will be expressed in industrial strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in order to produce 2G ethanol. Additionally, will be made the physiological characterization of some yeasts from collection, through fermentation tests with xylose and hydrolyzate obtained from lignocellulosic biomass, in order to find a robust platform for the production of renewable chemicals, which is of great industrial interest

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BORELLI, GUILHERME; FIAMENGHI, MATEUS BERNABE; DOS SANTOS, LEANDRO VIEIRA; CARAZZOLLE, MARCELO FALSARELLA; GUIMARAES PEREIRA, GONCALO AMARANTE; JOSE, JULIANA. Positive Selection Evidence in Xylose-Related Genes Suggests Methylglyoxal Reductase as a Target for the Improvement of Yeasts' Fermentation in Industry. GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, v. 11, n. 7, p. 1923-1938, JUL 2019. (13/08293-7, 17/07008-8, 15/05578-6, 17/08519-6)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

BORELLI, Guilherme. Prospection of 2G ethanol production associated genes using comparative genomics approach. 2017. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia Campinas, SP.