Hydrocarbon alkanes, components of major fossil fuels, are considered as next-generation biofuels because their biological production has recently been shown to be possible. However, high-yield alkane production requires robust host cells that are tolerant against alkanes, which exhibit cytotoxicity. In this study, we aimed to improve alkane tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a key industrial microbial host, by identifying and harnessing heterologous transporters that potentially pump out alkanes. To this end, we attempted to exploit membrane transporters of alkane-utilizing microbes based on systems biology approaches. We confirmed the increased expression of heterologous transporters upon exposure to a range of alkanes. We then showed that the heterologous expression of those transporters significantly increased tolerance against alkanes in S. cerevisiae through maintaining lower intracellular level. Overall, we demonstrated that systems level cellular engineering led to significantly improved tolerance against alkane biofuels in S. cerevisiae. We believe that our results laid the groundwork for developing robust alkane-producing yeast cells, which will greatly aid in next-generation alkane biofuel production and recovery.

Systems-level transporter engineering for improved tolerance against alkane biofuels in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

245th National Meeting (2013)

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