Impact of Lignocellulose Pretreatment By-Products on S. cerevisiae Strain Ethanol Red Metabolism during Aerobic and An-aerobic Growth

Understanding the specific response of yeast cells to environmental stress factors is the starting point for selecting the conditions of adaptive culture in order to obtain a yeast line with increased resistance to a given stress factor. The aim of the study was to evaluate the specific cellular response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain Ethanol Red to stress caused by toxic by-products generated during the pretreatment of lignocellulose, such as levulinic acid, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, furfural, ferulic acid, syringaldehyde and vanillin. The presence of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural at the highest analyzed concentration (5704.8 ± 249.3 mg/L) under aerobic conditions induced the overproduction of ergosterol and trehalose. On the other hand, under anaerobic conditions (during the alcoholic fermentation), a decrease in the biosynthesis of these environmental stress indicators was observed. The tested yeast strain was able to completely metabolize 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, furfural, syringaldehyde and vanillin, both under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Yeast cells reacted to the presence of furan aldehydes by overproducing Hsp60 involved in the control of intracellular protein folding. The results may be helpful in optimizing the process parameters of second-generation ethanol production, in order to reduce the formation and toxic effects of fermentation inhibitors.