Metabolic engineering of the initial stages of xylose catabolism in yeast for the purpose of constructing efficient producers of ethanol from lignocellulosics

Plant biomass possesses huge potential as a source for the production of biofuels. Glucose and the five-carbon sugar xylose are the principal constituents of biomass. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is used for industrial production of ethanol from glucose is not capable of fermenting xylose. Thus, it is necessary to find in Nature or to create microorganisms capable of achieving efficient fermentation of glucose and xylose, as a means of achieving economically feasible biomass conversion into ethanol. Active fermentation of xylose may be achieved if the initial stages of metabolism are efficiently performed [1]. In this review, the enzymes of the initial stages of xylose metabolism in yeast (xylose reductase, xylitol dehydrogenase, and xylulokinase) and bacteria (xylose isomerase and xylulokinase) are characterized. The ways for constructing yeast strains capable of achieving efficient alcoholic xylose fermentation are discussed.