The two US patents are received for yeast organism producing isobutanol at a high yield (PDC patent) and methods of increasing dihydroxy acid dehydratase activity to improve production of fuels, chemicals and amino acids (AFT patent).
The PDC patent focuses on converting an ethanol producing yeast into an isobutanol producing one.
The AFT patent covers one of the key enzymatic steps in Gevo’s unique intracellular pathway for producing isobutanol in yeast.
Gevo also filed a lawsuit against Butamax and its affiliate DuPont, the lawsuit charges that Butamax and Dupont infringe Gevo’s two newly-issued patents.
Gevo EVP & General Counsel Brett Lund said the company used synthetic biology to reprogram the yeast to make isobutanol instead of ethanol.
"Our lawsuit is based on Butamax’s own publications describing their use of the technology that Gevo invented first and for which we have received patents," Lund said.
