Purdue startup marketing new ethanol yeast

Chicago Tribune
By RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press Writer
4:47 PM CDT, April 21, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS - An Indiana biotechnology company announced Tuesday that it has begun producing a genetically modified yeast that promises to make it easier and faster to turn corn cobs, wood chips and a host of agricultural wastes into ethanol.

Green Tech America Inc. of West Lafayette said its modified yeast ferments both major forms of sugar -- glucose and xylose -- involved in creating cellulosic ethanol from plant matter.

The yeast, which arose from research at Purdue University dating back three decades, is a modified form of common baker's yeast that its creators made using recombinant DNA techniques.

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