Improved bioethanol production using CRISPR/Cas9 to disrupt the ADH2 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Bioethanol, as a form of renewable and clean energy, has become increasingly important to the energy supply. One major obstacle in ethanol production is developing a high-capacity system. Existing approaches for regulating the ethanol production pathway are relatively insufficient, with nonspecific genetic manipulation. Here, we used CRISPR/Cas9 technology to disrupt the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) 2 gene via complete deletion of the gene and introduction of a frameshift mutation in the ADH2 locus. Sequencing demonstrated the accurate knockout of the target gene with 91.4% and near 100% targeting efficiency. We also utilized genome resequencing to validate the mutations in the ADH2 mutants targeted by various single-guide RNAs. This extensive analysis indicated the mutations in the CRISPR/Cas9-engineered strains were homozygous. We applied the engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains for bioethanol production. Results showed that the ethanol yield improved by up to 74.7% compared with the yield obtained using the native strain. This work illustrates the applicability of this highly efficient and specific genome engineering approach to promote the improvement of bioethanol production in S. cerevisiae via metabolic engineering. Importantly, this study is the first report of the disruption of a target gene, ADH2, in S. cerevisiae using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to improve bioethanol yield.