On Apr. 28, 2020, researchers at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a method to combine traits from up to six different yeast species in a single hybrid strain – a yeast that could carry more tools for a specific job, such as producing biofuels.

Their new method, called iterative hybrid production (iHyPr), allowed the team to produce hybrid yeasts from six different Saccharomyces species. The multi-species hybrids adapted quickly to their environments, making them well suited to laboratory-based evolutionary selection.