Yeast's Frontier: Revolutionizing Chemical Production with Lignocellulose Bio-Refinery

Researchers at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics have developed a microbial system that efficiently produces valuable chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass by enhancing sugar co-fermentation. By engineering the co-utilization of glucose and xylose in Ogataea polymorpha, the team achieved the simultaneous utilization of both sugars, overcoming the challenges of limited xylose assimilation and glucose repression. The engineered strain produced fatty acids and 3-hydroxypropionic acid, demonstrating the potential of O. polymorpha as a cell factory for value-added chemical production from lignocellulose.