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Production of Ethanol from Lactose in Engineered S. cerevisiae
Author(s) -
Vinz Cami Alyssa
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.02085
Subject(s) - lactose , kluyveromyces marxianus , kluyveromyces lactis , ethanol fuel , food science , yeast , kluyveromyces , lactose permease , fermentation , chemistry , sucrose , ethanol , saccharomyces cerevisiae , business , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , biochemistry , gene , permease , transporter
Wisconsin is the dairy capitol of the United States. However, all this cheese production leaves behind a lot of unused by product in the form of cheese whey. If cheese whey could be fermented into consumable ethanol there would be less discarded into the trash and could also be a new revenue stream for Wisconsin dairies. Our plan is to modify yeast that can already produce ethanol from sucrose to also be able to make the ethanol from cheese whey that contains lactose. By engineering two strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to metabolize lactose we predict they will be able to digest and ferment cheese whey. This is done by allowing the yeast to express lactose permease and beta galactosidase, LAC12 and LAC4 respectively. These genes can be found in Kluyveromyces marxianus and Kluyveromyces lactis . With this production of ethanol from cheese whey we plan to patent this newly found technique which in return will lead to lots of vodka and money. Support or Funding Information This project is funded by UW ‐ Stout's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.