Open AccessProduction of ethanol from l ‐arabinose by Saccharomyces cerevisiae containing a fungal l ‐arabinose pathway
Author(s) -
Richard Peter,
Verho Ritva,
Putkonen Mikko,
Londesborough John,
Penttilä Merja
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
fems yeast research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1567-1364
pISSN - 1567-1356
DOI - 10.1016/s1567-1356(02)00184-8
Subject(s) - arabinose , biology , biochemistry , catabolism , xylitol , fermentation , dehydrogenase , enzyme , xylose
The fungal pathway for l ‐arabinose catabolism converts l ‐arabinose to d ‐xylulose 5‐phosphate in five steps. The intermediates are, in this order: l ‐arabinitol, l ‐xylulose, xylitol and d ‐xylulose. Only some of the genes for the corresponding enzymes were known. We have recently identified the two missing genes for l ‐arabinitol 4‐dehydrogenase and l ‐xylulose reductase and shown that overexpression of all the genes of the pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae enables growth on l ‐arabinose. Under anaerobic conditions ethanol is produced from l ‐arabinose, but at a very low rate. The reasons for the low rate of l ‐arabinose fermentation are discussed.