Publish date: Feb. 11, 2026

two airplanes on runway

Applications

  • Aviation fuel
  • Alternative biofuels
  • Conversion to Isoprene for rubber 

  Advantages/Benefits

  • 2- to 5-fold increase in titer compared to previous yeast strains 

Background 

This technology addresses key challenges associated with the biological production of isoprenol and isoprenyl acetate in yeast. Both compounds have applications as biofuels or as precursors to isoprene or dimethylcyclooctane (DMCO), an energy dense SAF. One of the main problems solved by this technology is the limited availability of acetyl-CoA, a key precursor for the production of these compounds, in the cytosol of yeast cells. Another issue is the inefficient expression of bacterial enzymes, such as alkaline phosphatase, in yeast cells.

Technology Overview

To accelerate isoprenol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute harnessed peroxisome, an organelle where acetyl-CoA is abundant, as a powerful metabolic center for isoprenol synthesis. They introduced a peroxisomal IPP-bypass isoprenol pathway initiating from acetyl-CoA. 

Further, the researchers engineered bacterial alkaline phosphatase for better expression in both cytosol and peroxisome. By removing the N-terminal periplasmic sequence in E. coli alkaline phosphatase, they achieved a truncated PhoA that was more efficiently expressed and targeted to peroxisome than wild-type full-length PhoA.

These strategies contributed to a 2-fold increase of isoprenol titer produced by the engineered strain and up to a 5-fold increase with overlay-added culture. Isoprenol production of one strain achieved the specific titer of more than 1.3 g/L with an average titer of more than 1.1 g/L in the batch flask culture. This invention demonstrates the highest isoprenol titer ever reported in yeast and advances the development of the industrially relevant microbial production of an advanced aviation fuel precursor. 

Development Stage

TRL 3 – Proof of concept

Principal Investigators

Status

Patent pending

Opportunities

Available for licensing or collaborative research