Abstract
BackgroundMicrobial formation of acetone, isopropanol, and butanol is largely restricted to bacteria belonging to the genus Clostridium. This ability has been industrially exploited over the last 100 years. The solvents are important feedstocks for the chemical and biofuel industry. However, biological synthesis suffers from high substrate costs and competition from chemical synthesis supported by the low price of crude oil. To render the biotechnological production economically viable again, improvements in microbial and fermentation performance are necessary. However, no comprehensive comparisons of respective species and strains used and their specific abilities exist today.ResultsThe genomes of a total 30 saccharolytic Clostridium strains, representative of the species Clostridium acetobutylicum, C. aurantibutyricum, C. beijerinckii, C. diolis, C. felsineum, C. pasteurianum, C. puniceum, C. roseum, C. saccharobutylicum, and C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum, have been determined; 10 of them completely, and compared to 14 published genomes of other solvent-forming clostridia. Two major groups could be differentiated and several misclassified species were detected.ConclusionsOur findings represent a comprehensive study of phylogeny and taxonomy of clostridial solvent producers that highlights differences in energy conservation mechanisms and substrate utilization between strains, and allow for the first time a direct comparison of sequentially selected industrial strains at the genetic level. Detailed data mining is now possible, supporting the identification of new engineering targets for improved solvent production.
Highlights
Microbial formation of acetone, isopropanol, and butanol is largely restricted to bacteria belonging to the genus Clostridium
Genome sizes vary between 4.099 Mb (C. acetobutylicum NCCB 24020) and 6.666 Mb [C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4 (HMT)]
We found the lowest number of genes in the genomes of the C. acetobutylicum species and the highest number (5937) in C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4 (HMT)
Summary
Microbial formation of acetone, isopropanol, and butanol is largely restricted to bacteria belonging to the genus Clostridium This ability has been industrially exploited over the last 100 years. Acetone and butanol are important solvents that are used to manufacture adhesives, cosmetics, lacquers, paints, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and polymers in combined chemical markets worth more than $6 billion [1]. Today, most of this market demand is met with solvents derived from oil. In 1915, Charles (later Chaim) Weizmann from the University of Manchester was granted his famous patent for the production of acetone and butanol using an anaerobic bacterium [2] This organism was later named Clostridium acetobutylicum [3]. Weizmann’s contribution was recognized by the British Government and played a part in the Balfour declaration in 1917, providing the initial nucleus
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