Physiological and molecular characterization of yeast cultures pre-adapted for fermentation of lignocellulosic hydrolysate

To reach an economically feasible bioethanol process from lignocellulose, efficient fermentation by yeast of all sugars present in the hydrolysate has to be achieved. However, when exposed to lignocellulosic hydrolysate, Saccharomyces cerevisiae is challenged with a variety of inhibitors that reduce yeast viability, growth and fermentation rate, and in addition damage cellular structures. In order to evaluate the yeast capability to adapt to lignocellulosic hydrolysates and to investigate the yeast molecular response to inhibitors, fed-batch cultivation of an industrial S. cerevisiae strain was performed using either spruce hydrolysate or a sugar medium as feed. The physiological effects of cultivating yeast in spruce hydrolysate was comprehensively studied by assessment of yeast performance in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF), measurement of furaldehyde reduction activity, assessment of conversion of phenolic compounds and genome wide transcription analysis. The yeast cultivated in spruce hydrolysate developed a rapid adaptive response to lignocellulosic hydrolysate, which significantly improved its fermentation performance in subsequent SSF experiments. Yeast adaptation to hydrolysate was shown to involve induction of NADPH-dependent aldehyde reduction activity and conversion of phenolic compounds during the fed-batch cultivation and these properties were correlated to the expression of several genes encoding oxido-reductase activities, notably AAD4, ADH6, OYE2/3 and YML131w. The other most significant transcriptional changes involved genes involved in transport mechanisms, such as YHK8, FLR1 or ATR1. A large set of genes were found to be associated to transcription factors involved in stress response (Msn2p, Msn4p, Yap1p but also cell growth and division (Gcr4p, Ste12p, Sok2p) that were most likely activated at the post-transcriptional level. Two biological replicates for each of the following conditions: S. cerevisiae start of fed-batch (0h) S. cerevisiae hydrolysate fed-batch (9h) S. cerevisiae hydrolysate fed-batch (18h) S. cerevisiae sugars fed-batch (9h) S. cerevisiae sugars fed-batch (18h)