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Improvement of xylose fermentation is of great importance to the fuel ethanol industry. The nonconventional thermotolerant yeast Hansenula polymorpha naturally ferments xylose to ethanol at high temperatures (48-50 degrees C). Introduction of a mutation that impairs ethanol reutilization in H. polymorpha led to an increase in ethanol yield from xylose. The native and heterologous (Kluyveromyces lactis) PDC1 genes coding for pyruvate decarboxylase were expressed at high levels in H. polymorpha under the control of the strong constitutive promoter of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (GAPDH). This resulted in increased pyruvate decarboxylase activity and improved ethanol production from xylose. The introduction of multiple copies of the H. polymorpha PDC1 gene driven by the strong constitutive promoter led to a 20-fold increase in pyruvate decarboxylase activity and up to a threefold elevation of ethanol production.

Considered are our own data and those found in literature on the properties of yeast mutants impaired in their ability to utilize methanol as sole carbon and energy source; hypotheses about the role of alcohol oxidase and citrate synthase in biogenesis of peroxisomes are proposed. It has been proved that formaldehyde reductase participates in the control of the formaldehyde level in the cell. Properties of mutants defective in the catabolite repression and inactivation of enzymes of methanol metabolism are described. The existence of several autonomous mechanisms of the catabolite repression of alcohol oxidase has been shown. It has been found, that the induction of glyoxysomal enzymes of C2-metabolism is repressed by methanol in the ecr1 mutant of Pichia pinus with the affected repression of alcohol oxidase by ethanol. Data are presented on the regulatory properties of the recently discovered acidification system of the medium induced by methanol. Such acidification occurs due to symport extrusion of protons and formate anions from the cells.