A current challenge of the cellulosic ethanol industry is to improve the resistance of inhibitors present in biomass hydrolysates. RNA-binding protein gene Ism6 was cloned from industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae ZU-E8, which is able to conferment glucose and xylose, and transformed into ZU-E8 via expression vector pRS426. The positive transformant ZU-910 with over-expressing Ism6 was identified on the culture plates using high concentration of acetate and re-screened by fermentation test. Fermentation by the recombinants was performed in a medium containing 80 g/L xylose and 2 g/L acetic acid or 20 g/L NH4Ac/NaAc. After 96 h shaking-flask fermentation, ZU-910 utilized 90.2% xylose with an ethanol yield of 26.9 g/L, which was 8.5- and 10-fold higher than ZU-E8. Further, in the corn stover hemicellulosic hydrolysate fermentation, both the xylose conversion and ethanol production by ZU-910 was larger by 50% and 40% than ZU-E8. ZU-910 has also enhanced tolerance against furfural and SO42-. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.