Engineered xylose transporters with reduced glucose inhibition

1. A recombinant xylose transporter protein comprising a xylose transporter motif sequence and at least one glucose mitigation mutation; wherein said xylose transporter motif sequence corresponds to amino acid residue positions 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, and 41 of SEQ ID NO: 1, and wherein the xylose transporter motif comprises the sequence -G-G/F-X 1 -X 2 -X 3 -G-;

wherein,

X 1 is D, C, G, H, I, L, or F;

X 2 is A, D, C, E, G, H, or I; and

X 3 is N, C, Q, F, G, L, M, S, T, or P;

and further wherein said glucose mitigation mutation is at a position corresponding to N326, T170, I171, K155, N225, S354, A361, L407, and/or N446 of SEQ ID NO: 1 wherein the xylose transporter protein is at least 95% identical to the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 and has xylose transporter protein activity.

2. The recombinant xylose transporter protein of claim 1 , wherein said xylose transporter motif sequence is G-G-F-I-M-G- (SEQ ID NO:107), -G-F-F-I-M-G- (SEQ ID NO:108), -G-G-F-I-S-G- (SEQ ID NO:109), or -G-F-F-I-S-G- (SEQ ID NO: 110).

3. The recombinant xylose transporter protein of claim 1 , wherein said glucose mitigation mutation is a N326H mutation.

4. The recombinant xylose transporter protein of claim 1 , wherein said glucose mitigation mutation is a N326S mutation.

5. The recombinant xylose transporter protein of claim 1 further comprising an amino acid deletion.

6. The recombinant xylose transporter protein of claim 5 , wherein said deletion is within a protein domain corresponding to residue 497-522 of SEQ ID NO: 1.

7. A recombinant yeast cell comprising a recombinant xylose transporter protein of claim 1 .

8. The recombinant yeast cell of claim 7 , wherein the growth rate of said recombinant yeast cell in a xylose-glucose growth media is at least about 50% of the growth rate of said recombinant yeast cell in a xylose growth media.

9. A nucleic acid encoding the recombinant xylose transporter protein of claim 1 .