Investigating formate tolerance mechanisms in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its application

Current global energy and environmental crisis have spurred efforts towards developing sustainable biotechnological solutions, such as utilizing CO₂ and its derivatives as raw materials. Formate is an attractive one-carbon source due to its high solubility and low reduction potential. However, the regulatory mechanism of formate metabolism in yeast remains largely unexplored. This study employed adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) to improve formate tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and characterized the underlying molecular mechanisms. The evolved strain was applied to produce free fatty acids (FFAs) under high concentration of formate with glucose addition. The results showed that the evolved strain achieved a FFAs titer of 250 mg/L. Overall, this study sheds light on the regulatory mechanism of formate tolerance and provides a platform for future studies under high concentration of formate.