Production of ethanol from mannitol by the yeast strain Saccharomyces paradoxus NBRC 0259

Mannitol is a promising marine macroalgal carbon source. However, organisms that produce ethanol from mannitol are limited; to date, only the yeast Pichia angophorae and the bacterium Escherichia coli KO11 have been reported to possess this capacity. In this study, we searched a yeast strain with a high capacity to produce ethanol from mannitol and selected Saccharomyces paradoxus NBRC 0259 for its ability to produce ethanol from mannitol. This ability was enhanced after a 3-day cultivation of this strain in medium containing mannitol; the enhanced strain was renamed S. paradoxus NBRC 0259-3. We compared the ability of strain NBRC 0259-3 to produce ethanol from mannitol and glucose, under several conditions, with those of P. angophorae and E. coli KO11. As a result, we concluded that S. paradoxus NBRC 0259-3 strain is the most suitable yeast strain for the production of ethanol from mannitol.