Genome sequence published for important biofuels yeast

October 6, 2009

(PhysOrg.com) -- A strain of yeast that thrives on turning sugar cane into ethanol for biofuel has had its genome completely sequenced by researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

"Understanding this microbe may enable more efficient biofuel production, and also will produce even more robust industrial organisms that are versatile and capable of producing advanced biofuels from non-food crops like switchgrass," said Lucas Argueso, Ph.D., lead author and research scholar in the Duke Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology.

Argueso worked with researchers from Brazil and the University of North Carolina on the study, which was published in Genome Research.

When oil prices crept to new highs in the 1970s, Brazil invested in alternative biofuels created from the country's abundant sugar cane crops.are slightly different. The greatest differences between paired chromosomes occur at the ends of these worm-like structures, making reconfiguration easier and speeding adaptation to evolve.

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