A recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain for efficient conversion of lactose in salted and unsalted cheese whey into ethanol.

For utilization of lactose in salted and unsalted cheese whey, intergeneric protoplast fusion between lactose nonfermenting, salt-tolerant Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC4126 and lactose fermenting Kluyveromyces lactis CBS683 was carried out. The fusion process gave rise to new hybrid yeast strains that revealed higher significant DNA contents than parental strains. The recombinants showed growth on either lactose or sucrose. The ethanol yields by some recombinants were 5.55% from sweet whey and 4.66% from salted whey containing up to 6% sodium chloride compared to 4.15 and 2.86% for parental K. lactis CBS683, respectively.