Novel Yeast Strains from Brazilian Biodiversity: Biotechnological Applications in Lignocellulose Conversion into Biofuels

Abstract

The bioprospection of novel biochemical traits from world biodiversity is far underexploited. Brazil is one of the richest megadiverse countries, and a source of new species and strains with potential application to biotechnological processes. Among the organisms of interest, yeasts capable of fermenting sugars from lignocellulosic biomass have particular interest for the development of efficient fermentative technologies in the production of biofuels, like second-generation ethanol, and other chemicals, like xylitol. In this chapter, recent studies performed with novel Brazilian D-xylose- and/or cellobiose-fermenting yeasts are highlighted. The new isolates from the genus Scheffersomyces and Spathaspora represent an important contribution of new species and strains to yeast taxonomy and ecology, and their characterization a first screening for potential biotechnological applications. These yeasts species and strains represent a new set of biological material that can be used directly in the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into value-added bioproducts, or a source of genetic material for the improvement of the fermentative capacity of industrial microorganisms, like the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, toward the production of second-generation biofuels.