Engineering of a hydrocarbon producing yeast for biofuel production

一种单细胞的绿藻，葡萄球菌，分泌一种叫做葡萄球菌的碳氢化合物，这种化合物非常适合用于生物燃料的生产。然而，芽孢球菌生长速度不快，也不受生物技术工程的影响，这使得改进这种生物以更有效地生产生物燃料变得困难。本研究将合成葡萄球菌所需的基因引入到适合生物技术工程的出芽酵母Saccharomyces cerevisiae中，制备了一株能够大量生产并分泌葡萄球菌的酵母菌。

A unicellular green algae, Botryococcus braunii, secretes a hydrocarbon called botryococcene, which is very suitable for biofuel production, into its environment. However, Botryococcus do not grow fast and is not subjected to biotechnological engineering, making it difficult to improve this organism for more efficient biofuel production.In this study, genes required for botryococcene synthesis are incorporated into the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is very suitable for biotechnological engineering, to make a yeast strain which can prouduce large amounts of botryococcene and secrete them.