Zeitschrift für Bioverarbeitung und Biotechnik

Genetic Modifications of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for Ethanol Production from Starch Fermentation: A Review

Abstract

Esra Aydemir, Selami Demirci, Ayşegül Doğan, Ali Özhan Aytekin and Fikrettin Sahin

There is a huge demand for developing new technologies for alternative energy sources due to the elevated costs of petroleum and its by-products, depletion of nonrenewable fuel sources, and to eliminate the disadvantages of geopolitical location and environmental pollution caused by high levels of carbon dioxide release. Science is striving to meet this demand and as molecular biology techniques have progressed, genetic engineering tools have been presented as promising future solutions in the form of optimizing the fermentation process to increase the ethanol yield from different carbon sources such as starch. As Saccharomyces cerevisiae is not naturally able to ferment starch, it can be genetically manipulated and modulated to improve the fuel production from starchy materials and the amount of cost that is required to produce ethanol would be decreased with these manipulations. General modifications in S. cerevisiae include specific gene expressions to gain new properties or improve existing pathways. This review aims to elicit the current status of ethanol production thorough alternative techniques from starch using current genetic engineering applications and to give further directions for high-throughput fermentations using genetically modified S. cerevisiae strains.