Team:DTU Denmark/yeast

The utilization of improved micro-organisms for industrial processes is a fact for centuries. From the early stages in the preparation of fermented food and beverages until nowadays. Recent advances in biochemistry, engineering and genetic manipulation techniques, led scientist and engineers to improve micro-organisms in order to enhance their metabolic capabilities for biotechnological applications. Along with these improvements, a far more rational and direct approach to strain improvement have been employed, of what we call Metabolic Engineering. What distinguishes Metabolic Engineering from the classical approaches is the application of advanced analytical tools for identification of suited targets for genetic modifications or even the use of mathematical models to perform in silico design of optimized micro-organisms. The consequences of the changes introduced in these engineered strains can then suggest further modifications to improve cellular performance and therefore Metabolic Engineering can be seen as a cyclic process made of continuous iterations between experimental and analytical work.

Among all possible micro-organisms, Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a very well-suited candidate since it is recognized as being GRAS (“generally regarded as safe”).

Due to its long history of application in the production of consumable products such as ethanol and baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has a very well-established fermentation and process technology for large-scale production. The availability of its complete genome sequence of in 1996, and the numerous possibilities for genetic modifications by recombinant DNA technology that came with that, made of yeast a perfect model organism within the field of biotechnology.