African Journal of
Microbiology Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Microbiol. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1996-0808
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJMR
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 5233

Full Length Research Paper

Increasing the bioethanol yield in the presence of furfural via mutation of a native strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Bahareh Rahimian Zarif 1* Mehrdad Azin 2 and Nour Amirmozafari 3
  1Department of  biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University,Tehran, Iran. 2Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Advanced Technology, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology, 27, Shahid Mousavi St., Enghelab Ave., Tehran 15815-3538, Iran.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Published: 18 March 2011

Abstract

 

High ethanol yield is a desired property of industrial yeast strains. A significant problem in fermentative conversion of lignocellulosic materials to ethanol is the formation of furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which are formed during acid hydrolysis of lignocellulose. Furfural has been known to create strong inhibition in metabolism of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this article, the result of random mutagenesis of a native strain of S. cerevisiae by ultra violet (UV) light and nitrous acid is presented. By screening the cells in the presence of furfural, a potent mutant was selected which produced 36.7% more bioethanol than the parent strain, in the presence of 0.2% (v/v) furfural.

 

Key words: Bioethanol, furfural, mutation, nitrous acid, Saccharomyces cerevisiae PTCC 5315UV radiation.