Overcoming Isobutanol Cytotoxicity

Since S. cerevisiae is the workhorse in industrial ethanol fermentations and has the natural capacity to secrete fusel alcohols as by-products (reviewed in Hazelwood et ah, 2008), this organism is supposed to be an attractive host for the production of higher alcohols. Furthermore, S. cerevisiae tolerates up to 20% ethanol and also shows a comparatively high tolerance against butanol (Knoshaug and Zhang, 2009 Chen et ah, 2011). 

Isobutanol has been shown to severely impair the growth of E. coli cells at concentrations between 5 and 10 g/L complete growth arrest and loss of viability were 

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