Automated UV-C Mutagenesis of Kluyveromyces marxianus NRRL Y-1109 and Selection for Microaerophilic Growth and Ethanol Production at Elevated Temperature on Biomass Sugars

The yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus is a potential microbial catalyst for fuel ethanol production from a wide range of biomass substrates. To improve its growth and ethanol yield at elevated temperature under microaerophilic conditions, K. marxianus NRRL Y-1109 was irradiated with UV-C using automated protocols on a robotic platform for picking and spreading irradiated cultures and for processing the resulting plates. The plates were incubated under anaerobic conditions on xylose or glucose for 5 mo at 46 degrees C. Two K. marxianus mutant strains (designated 7-1 and 8-1) survived and were isolated from the glucose plates. Both mutant strains, but not wild type, grew aerobically on glucose at 47 degrees C. All strains grew anaerobically at 46 degrees C on glucose, galactose, galacturonic acid, and pectin; however, only 7-1 grew anaerobically on xylose at 46 degrees C. Saccharomyces cerevisiae NRRL Y-2403 did not grow at 46 degrees C on any of these substrates. With glucose as a carbon source, ethanol yield after 3 d at 46 degrees C was higher for 8-1 than for wild type (0.51 and 0.43 g ethanol/g glucose, respectively). With galacturonic acid as a carbon source, the ethanol yield after 7 d at 46 degrees C was higher for 7-1 than for wild type (0.48 and 0.34 g ethanol/g galacturonic acid, respectively). These mutant strains have potential application in fuel ethanol production at elevated temperature from sugar constituents of starch, sucrose, pectin, and cellulosic biomass.