Production of Fatty Acid Derived Biofuels in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

Efforts to replace petroleum derived products include the development of sustainable processes to produce a variety of biofuels. While ethanol can be efficiently produced in yeast and used as a gasoline additive, its properties are not suitable e.g. for diesel engines. Our aim is to generate yeast strains optimized for the production of molecules that can be used as diesel fuels, especially fatty acid derived compounds.

Several efforts are combined to streamline yeast metabolism and to generate a portfolio of platform strains for different applications. These include (i) the screening of a broad range of heterologous pathways for production of the specific product class, (ii) optimization of acetyl-CoA as well as acyl-CoA precursor supply, (iii) inhibition of fatty acid catabolism and by-product formation, and (iv) construction of strains producing fatty acids of specific chain length. We are furthermore designing biosensors that allow for a fast screening for strains with increased production of either the final pathway products or intermediates.