An Oil-Accumulating Yeast Could Help Make Next-Generation Aviation Fuels

The Science

Biomanufacturing uses biological systems to produce chemicals or materials. For example, scientists use microbes' ability to ferment alcohol to develop bio-based fuels. In advanced aviation fuels, new formulas could have better performance and efficiency than current ones. One potential high-performance bio-based jet fuel is made from a chemical that is difficult to produce. However, biomanufacturing has the potential to make a precursor to this chemical, isoprenol. Scientists have tested production pathways in many microbial systems. However, we still need microbial hosts that can produce industrially relevant amounts of this chemical. Researchers tested producing isoprenol in a type of yeast.

The Impact

The yeast the researchers tested has a natural ability to accumulate oil, among other unique characteristics. They engineered a production pathway into the yeast and demonstrated that it could produce isoprenol. They also tested modifications to the pathway and explored solutions to bottlenecks in production. These findings show that this yeast is a possible host for isoprenol production. It provides a foundation for future research on biomanufacturing isoprenol. Potentially, it could help meet the demand for domestically produced aviation fuels.

Summary

Biomanufacturing of isoprenol has been achieved through a metabolic pathway known as the IPP-bypass pathway. But many microbial hosts have struggled with producing isoprenol in a biomanufacturing setting. There is a need for microbial hosts that are compatible with biomanufacturing and can produce industrially relevant titers of isoprenol. Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute sought to investigate isoprenol production in Rhodosporidium toruloides. This is a type of oil-accumulating yeast that is a promising microbial host for biomanufacturing. They implemented the IPP-bypass pathway into R. toruloides and achieved production of isoprenol up to 93.1 mg/L in a sugar-rich medium and 27.3 mg/L using a sorghum-derived feedstock. They identified engineering methods that could improve isoprenol production in future research. Overall, this work provides an initial understanding of isoprenol production in R. toruloides and provides guidance for future research efforts.

Contact

Taek Soon Lee
Joint BioEnergy Institute
Berkeley National Laboratory

John M. Gladden
Joint BioEnergy Institute
Sandia National Laboratories

Funding

This work was supported by the Joint BioEnergy Institute, which is supported by the DOE, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research Program.

Publication

Garcia, V.E., Geiselman, G.M., Hwang, H.J., et al. "Evaluating isoprenol production using the IPP-bypass pathway in the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides." Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts (2026). [DOI: 10.1186/s13068-026-02750-w]