Expression of Mitochondrial Cytochrome C Oxidase Chaperone Gene (COX20) Improves Tolerance to Weak Acid and Oxidative Stress during Yeast Fermentation.

Introduction: Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the micro-organism of choice for the conversion of fermentable sugars released by the pre-treatment of lignocellulosic material into bioethanol. Pre-treatment of lignocellulosic material releases acetic acid and previous work identified a cytochrome oxidase chaperone gene (COX20) which was significantly up-regulated in yeast cells in the presence of acetic acid.

Results: A Δcox20 strain was sensitive to the presence of acetic acid compared with the background strain.