MBG Technology
Our novel purely non-GM approach is based on our observation that natural strains of S. cerevisiae can in fact produce microscopic colonies using xylose as a sole carbon source, provided they can be incubated for long enough periods (1-2 months). This unexpected observation directly contradicts scientific dogma established for many years, which states that 'Saccharomyces cerevisiae cannot grow at all on xylose'. Using technology based on natural breeding strategies that have been used to develop new breeds of domesticated animals and plants, we have been able to generate new breeds of Saccharomyces yeast with dramatically improved ability to grow on xylose. Using our strategies, the rate of improvement in growth rate has been impressive. Doubling times of yeast have been reduced from over 140 hours to approximately three hours which is only modestly more than the doubling time on the preferred sugar glucose.New strains have been tested on real world hydrolyzates
Significantly, the yeast strains developed by Microbiogen have now been tested in a range of hydrolyzates and high ethanol concentrations have been achieved under highly challenging conditions.
An enabling technology for an integrated "food and fuel" bio-refinery
Since our technology only employs traditional breeding strategies and does not involve any genetic engineering steps to obtain improved yeast of industrial quality, the yeast produced are not likely to be subject to the same level of regulatory constraint as GM organisms. In addition, by incorporating classical genetics technologies we have developed improved yeast strains for the traditional fermentation industry and are aiming to produce yeast strains capable of slotting seamlessly into the established infrastructure for ethanol manufacture.
Laboratory scale tests by the scientists at Microbiogen have demonstrated that its non-GM yeast could already be used to develop industrial bio-refineries converting food and waste into ethanol and high quality feed products. This technology is expected to be able to be applied to traditional corn, sugar cane, or other waste biomass resources. While there are still challenges to be met, the non-GM yeast that Microbiogen has developed present a unique opportunity for the current ethanol industries to transition from a pure corn or sugar cane based ethanol industry to a corn/corn stover/feed or a sugar cane/bagasse/feed based industry with less new capital investment than may have otherwise been the case.
Microbiogen yeast strains have the potential to change the whole current ethanol equation. From an industry today that only converts food to fuel the new industry is expected to convert food and waste into fuel and high quality food.