Overcoming glucose repression in mixed sugar fermentation by co-expressing a cellobiose transporter and a beta-glucosidase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Glucose repression is one of the main limitations in mixed lignocellulosic sugar fermentation for cost-effective production of fuels and chemicals. Here we report a novel strategy to overcome glucose repression by co-expressing a cellobiose transporter and a beta-glucosidase in an engineered D-xylose-utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain. The resulting strain can simultaneously utilize cellobiose and D-xylose for ethanol production.