In this study, thermo-tolerant devices consisting of heat shock genes from thermophiles were designed and introduced into Saccharomyces cerevisiae for improving its thermo-tolerance. Among ten engineered thermo-tolerant yeasts, T.te-TTE2469, T.te-GroS2 and T.te-IbpA displayed over 25% increased cell density and 1.5-4-fold cell viability compared with the control. Physiological characteristics of thermo-tolerant strains revealed that better cell wall integrity, higher trehalose content and enhanced metabolic energy were preserved by thermo-tolerant devices. Engineered thermo-tolerant strain was used to investigate the impact of thermo-tolerant device on pathway efficiency by introducing beta-amyrin synthesis pathway, showed 28.1% increased beta-amyrin titer, 28-35 degrees C broadened growth temperature range and 72 h shortened fermentation period. The results indicated that implanting heat shock proteins from thermophiles to S. cerevisiae would be an efficient approach to improve its thermo-tolerance. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.