Generating phenotypic diversity in a fungal biocatalyst to investigate alcohol stress tolerance encountered during microbial cellulosic biofuel production.

ABSTRACT: Consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) of lignocellulosic biomass offers an alternative route to renewable energy. The crop pathogen Fusarium oxysporum is a promising fungal biocatalyst because of its broad host range and innate ability to co-saccharify and ferment lignocellulose to bioethanol. A major challenge for cellulolytic CBP-enabling microbes is alcohol inhibition. This research tested the hypothesis that Agrobacterium tumefaciens--mediated transformation (ATMT) could be exploited as a tool to generate phenotypic diversity in F. oxysporum to investigate alcohol stress tolerance encountered during CBP. A random mutagenesis library of gene disruption transformants (n=1,563) was constructed and screened for alcohol tolerance in order to isolate alcohol sensitive or tolerant phenotypes. Foll

SUBMITTER: Hennessy RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3797763 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature