Running Head: Yeast as a Biofuel

Yeast as a Biofuel
Oliver Keller
BIOL 107
Morrisville State College

How A Yeast Cell Could Transform The Biofuel Industry

Yeast as a Biofuel

With an exploding population and dwindling natural resources, there is

a constant global struggle to determine what we eat, and what we use for
energy. But as genetics continue to improve, agriculture becomes more
efficient and eases the pressure placed on the struggle. Indeed, in recent
years the line between food and fuel has become increasingly blurred.
Scientists are realizing new methods for converting traditional food sources
into fuel sources, as a result of these advances in increased crop efficiency.
Recent breakthroughs at the University of Texas have resulted in a more
efficient strain of yeast, which is able to convert sugar into a biofuel and is
claimed to have an improved yield.
University of Texas Associate Professor Hal Alper and his small team
was able to engineer new strain of yeast cell, using metabolic engineering
and directed evolution. They used the metabolic engineering to create yeast
cells that convert sugar into fats and oils which can be used in place of
petroleum based products. Once they had a host of these preferred cells,
they used directed evolution to simulate natural selection and created a
more homogenous cell. The result is a cell that can produce 160% as many
fuel substitutes as other biofuel competitors, in less time. This gives it the
ability to effectively compete against other existing biofuels, and will likely
increase the availability and consumption of biofuels as opposed to
traditional fossil-fuels.
According to the US National Research Council, bio-based products
already represent 2.2% of US GDP, or $353 billion, but are poised to expand

Yeast as a Biofuel

even further. Additionally, it stated that up until now, bio products have
failed to effectively replace many chemical products due to the complexity
and costs associated with the process.
There are only two main sources of information contained in this
article, which are the US National Research Council, and the University of
Texas which conducted the research. I would consider the National Research
Council credible based on the fact that it is a government agency, and had
nothing invested in the results of the research. The University of Texas on
the other hand, must be taken into account with caution because big
breakthroughs, such as the one they are claiming, would mean an increase in
future funding. Therefore, personal interests could potentially have an effect
on the presentation of findings.
The reporter adequately cited his sources of information, however
there didnt seem to be enough sources to be well balanced and solid.
Additionally, he had a tendency to intertwine the two sources. The result
was a tendency to ignore the fact that one of the sources was potentially
biased. Given that the University of Texas would benefit greatly from a
successful alternative biofuel discovery, the information provided by them
could be biased.
The main facts of the case, which stated what the new cell can do, and
how they engineered it to do those things, expanded and went into greater
detail on what I already understand. Due to my extensive knowledge of

Yeast as a Biofuel

genetics and cloning I gained in my Bio 107 course, I was able to understand
that the yeast cells, which converted the sugar into lipids, were selectively
reproduced in order to create a new strain.
Several critical pieces of information lacking in this article are how
much yeast is currently produced in the United States, how long it would take
to mass produce this new strain, and how much space would be required in
order to produce enough yeast cells to become economically viable in the
bio-fuel industry. I would consider this to be a fallacy, especially when
combined with the fact that this article presents this new strain as the
answer to all our energy problems. It uses the exploitation of uncertainty
fallacy. Based on the fact that knowledge of the production and chemistry
behind biofuels isnt common knowledge, it is able to present whatever facts
it wants in support of its argument, while the general public would have no
idea if critical information was excluded to skew the results.
I believe that the reporter set out to highlight an alternative biofuel
source, and increase awareness and possibly funding for the endeavor, which
he successfully did.
Based on the information provided, and my additional research
conducted, I would say that there is one ethical/legal issue to be addressed.
Suppose this strain is able to be mass produced, and that it is able to
perform as efficiently as is reported in this article. Would the University of
Texas, or Hal Alper, be able to patent this? There are many examples of

Yeast as a Biofuel

other biofuel strains being patented by corporations, but I havent seen any
examples of a college or university patenting a biofuel source. For the sake
of argument, lets suppose that they can and do. Would that be the right
thing to do ethically? Biofuels are supposed to replace fossil fuels to reduce
pollution and benefit society as a whole. If that is the true, then it would be
ethically wrong to withhold this technology for personal gain if it withholds
the benefit of society.
In my opinion, this was a fairly well written article that contained only a
few shortcomings, as mentioned before. It increased my knowledge as to
how biofuels are engineered and what must be necessary for a crop to be
converted to a biofuel. The article explained well how the researchers at the
University of Texas used genetics to modify yeast cells to possess a desired
trait.

References
Delamaide, Darrell. 2015. How A Yeast Cell Could Transform The Biofuel
Industry. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved from
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/yeast-cell-could-transform-biofuel213248020.html
Life Technologies. 2015. GeneArt Directed Evolution. Lifetechnologies.com.
Retrieved from http://www.lifetechnologies.com/us/en/home/lifescience/cloning/gene-synthesis/directed-evolution.html

Yeast as a Biofuel

Yang, Yea-Tyng. Bennett, George. San, Ka-Yiu. 1998. Genetic and Metabolic
Engineering. EjBioTechnology.info. Retrieved from
http://www.ejbiotechnology.info/content/vol1/issue3/full/3/