FLOCCULENT YEAST AND METHOD FOR PRODUCTION THEREOF

摘要

It is to provide a novel Kluyveromyces marxianus transformant having thermotolerance and flocculation property, suitable for the industrial production of bioethanol, by introducing a foreign flocculation gene into Kluyveromyces marxianus, and an efficient method for producing the transformant. The present inventors focused on the flocculation gene FLO of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a foreign gene to confer flocculation property to Kluyveromyces marxianus and produced a linear DNA fragment comprising a known expression promoter sequence and a FLO gene sequence derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. As a result of introducing this linear DNA fragment into Kluyveromyces marxianus, the present inventors have confirmed that Kluyveromyces marxianus transformant can be obtained efficiently, and that the flocculation property of the above transformant is unexpectedly and significantly enhanced. The present invention has been thus completed.