Abstract
Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.), an important crop, containing over 50% inulin in its tubers on a dry weight basis is an agricultural and industrial crop with a great potential for production of ethanol and industrial products. Inulin is a good substrate for bioethanol production. Saccharomyces cerevisiae 6525 can produce high concentrations of ethanol, but it cannot synthesize inulinase. In this study, a new integration vector carrying inuA1 gene encoding exoinulinase was constructed and transformed into 18SrDNA site of industrial strain S. cerevisiae 6525. The obtained transformant, BR8, produced 1.1 U mL− 1 inulinase activity within 72 h and the dry cell weight reached 12.3 g L− 1 within 48 h. In a small-scale fermentation, BR8 produced 9.5% (v/v) ethanol, with a productivity rate of 0.385 g ethanol per gram inulin, while wild-type S. cerevisiae 6525 produced only 3.3% (v/v) ethanol in the same conditions. In a 5-L fermentation, BR8 produced 14.0% (v/v) ethanol in fermentation medium containing inulin and 1% (w/v) (NH4)2SO4. The engineered S. cerevisiae 6525 carrying inuA1 converted pure nonhydrolyzed inulin directly into high concentrations of ethanol.