Manipulating the nucleolar serine-rich protein Srp40p in Saccharomyces cerevisiae may improve isobutanol production

Isobutanol represents a promising second-generation biofuel. Saccharomyces cerevisiae can produce minor quantities of isobutanol as a byproduct. Increasing yeast tolerance to isobutanol is a crucial step toward achieving higher production levels. Previously, we discovered that expression of the srp40 gene could increase S. cerevisiae isobutanol tolerance. In this study, we explored the impact of overexpressing srp40 on isobutanol production. We used the CEN/ARS plasmid YCplac22-srp40 to overexpress srp40 in S. cerevisiae strain W303-1A. The resulting strain was named W303-1A-srp40. We subsequently performed metabolic engineering of isobutanol synthesis by overexpressing ILV2, ILV3 and ARO10 in W303-1 A-srp40. The resulting strain was named 303V2V3A10-22-srp40. Our findings revealed that, compared with the control strain, the 303V2V3A10-22-srp40 strain amplified isobutanol production by 50%. A transcriptome analysis revealed that upregulated genes associated with aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis or downregulated genes associated with phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis might yield increased isobutanol production in 303V2V3A10-22-srp40. Moreover, the decreases in the biosynthesis of amino acids and oxidative phosphorylation might play pivotal roles in the increased isobutanol tolerance of strain W303-1A-srp40. In summary, the overexpression of srp40 could increase isobutanol production and tolerance in S. cerevisiae. This study offers novel insights regarding strategies for increasing isobutanol production.