A new diet for yeast to improve biofuel production

In 2010, our group announced the discovery of two cellodextrin transporter families from the cellulolytic fungus, Neurospora crassa. Furthermore, we demonstrated the utility of these transporters in the production of lignocellulosic biofuels. This discovery was made possible by a decision to systematically study cell wall degradation by N. crassa. The identified transport pathway has opened up a new way of thinking about microbial fermentation of hexoses as well as pentoses derived from plant cell walls. Integrating this pathway with the endogenous metabolism and signaling networks of S. cerevisiae is now a major goal of our group.