Finding of thiosulfate pathway for synthesis of organic sulfur compounds in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and improvement of ethanol production

We found that Saccharomyces cerevisiae utilizes thiosulfate as a sole sulfur source. The energetically-favored thiosulfate rather than sulfate as sulfur sources is also more effective for improving growth and ethanol-production rate in S. cerevisiae due to high levels of intracellular NADPH during thiosulfate utilization.