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Phoenix666 writes:

Currently, making products such as fuels, synthetic materials or pharmaceuticals from renewable raw materials lacks efficiency because the microorganisms process the raw materials very slowly and generate many unwanted by-products. Biotechnologists at Goethe University Frankfurt have now succeeded in optimizing sugar utilization in baker's yeast.

Microorganisms such as baker's yeast can be compared to miniature factories: The raw materials (generally sugar) are conducted through gates (transport proteins) and converted in a multi-stage process with the help of enzymes. Microbes produce technologically desirable products, while also many by-products. This is due to the fact that various enzymes compete for sugar so that different building blocks important for the cell's survival are formed.

Thomas Thomik and Dr. Mislav Oreb from the Institute of Molecular Biosciences at Goethe University Frankfurt have now succeeded in channeling the metabolism of baker's yeast in such a way that sugar can be used more productively. In the latest issue of the renowned scientific journal Nature Chemical Biology, the researchers present a new mechanism by which the raw materials are delivered directly to the desired enzymes by transport proteins.

Transport proteins injected inside the cells cause them to more efficiently export the desired compounds.

Reference: Thomas Thomik et al. An artificial transport metabolon facilitates improved substrate utilization in yeast, Nature Chemical Biology (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2457

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