초록
<P><B>Background</B></P><P>The fermentation of sugars to alcohols by microbial systems underpins many biofuel initiatives. Short chain alcohols, like n-butanol, isobutanol and isopropanol, offer significant advantages over ethanol in terms of fuel attributes. However, production of ethanol from resistant <I>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</I> strains is significantly less complicated than for these alternative alcohols.</P><P><B>Results</B></P><P>In this study, we have transplanted an n-butanol synthesis pathway largely from <I>Clostridial</I> sp. to the genome of an <I>S. cerevisiae</I> strain. Production of n-butanol is only observed when additional genetic manipulations are made to restore any redox imbalance and to drive acetyl-CoA production. We have used this butanol production strain to address a key question regarding the sensitivity of cells to short chain alcohols. In the past, we have defined specific point mutations in the translation initiation factor eIF2B based upon phenotypic resistance/sensitivity to high concentrations of exogenously added n-butanol. Here, we show that even during endogenous butanol production, a butanol resistant strain generates more butanol than a butanol sensitive strain.</P><P><B>Conclusion</B></P><P>These studies demonstrate that appreciable levels of n-butanol can be achieved in <I>S. cerevisiae</I> but that significant metabolic manipulation is required outside of the pathway converting acetyl-CoA to butanol. Furthermore, this work shows that the regulation of protein synthesis by short chain alcohols in yeast is a critical consideration if higher yields of these alcohols are to be attained.</P><P><B>Electronic supplementary material</B></P><P>The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13068-015-0281-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.</P>