Genome-wide association across Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains reveals substantial variation in underlying gene requirements for toxin tolerance.

ABSTRACT: Cellulosic plant biomass is a promising sustainable resource for generating alternative biofuels and biochemicals with microbial factories. But a remaining bottleneck is engineering microbes that are tolerant of toxins generated during biomass processing, because mechanisms of toxin defense are only beginning to emerge. Here, we exploited natural diversity in 165 Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from diverse geographical and ecological niches, to identify mechanisms of hydrolysate-toxin tolerance. We performed genome-wide association (GWA) analysis to identify genetic variants underlying toxin tolerance, and gene knockouts and allele-swap experiments to validate the involvement of implicated genes. In the process of this work, we uncovered a surprising difference in genetic archit

SUBMITTER: Sardi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5849340 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature