Factors affecting yeast ethanol tolerance and fermentation efficiency

Alcohol fermentation is a key process in wine, beer, alcoholic beverage production, bioethanol production by means of carbohydrate sources, and food industry byproducts. There are three key points in these kinds of processes determining their efficiency; enzymatic cellulose lysis into simple sugar molecules, alcohol fermentation rate, and ethanol tolerance of yeast cells. The first process is usually carried out by either the use of pure cellulolytic enzymes, which is a high cost procedure, or by the production of these enzymes from cellulolytic bacteria and filamentous fungi. Lately, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and several other yeasts were genetically modified to express recombinant cellulases in media or display them on the cell surface. Many studies have indicated that the genetic engineering of yeast cells can be a useful approach in increasing the alcoholic fermentation rate as well as their ethanol tolerance. These modifications could be the overexpression of a key protein using a strong promoter or the modification of a specific domain or amino acid which can also lead to the desired outcome. This review focuses on the modifications of a single protein and/or pathways that can lead to the augmentation of ethanol tolerance and alcoholic fermentation efficiency of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.