University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers tweak yeast genes to better tolerate pretreatment

In Wisconsin, researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and several Department of Energy laboratories have identified two changes to a single gene that can make the yeast tolerate the pretreatment chemicals. They published their findings recently in the journal Genetics.

The researchers used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to alter a strain of an ionic liquid-susceptible yeast, introducing the two single-nucleotide changes and successfully producing a yeast that can survive — and ferment — alongside amounts of ionic liquid that are normally toxic.