How neutral red modified carbon and electron flow inClostridium acetobutylicumgrown in chemostat culture at neutral pH

Optimization of CO fermentation by Clostridium carboxidivorans in batch reactors: Effects of the medium composition

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of medium composition on CO fermentation by Clostridium carboxidivorans. The focus was to reduce the medium cost preserving acceptable levels of solvent production.

METHODS

Yeast extract (YE) concentration was set in the range of 0-3 g/L. Different reducing agents were investigated, including cysteine-HCl 0.6 g/L, pure cysteine 0.6 g/L, sodium sulphide (Na2S) 0.6 g/L, cysteine-sodium sulphide 0.6 g/L and cysteine-sodium sulphide 0.72 g/L. The concentration of the metal solution was decreased down to 25 % of the standard value. Fermentation tests were also carried out with and without tungsten or selenium.

RESULTS

The results demonstrated that under optimized conditions, namely yeast extract (YE) concentration set at 1 g/L, pure cysteine as the reducing agent and trace metal concentration reduced to 75 % of the standard value, reasonable solvent production was achieved in less than 150 h. Under these operating conditions, the production levels were found to be 1.39 g/L of ethanol and 0.27 g/L of butanol. Furthermore, the study revealed that selenium was not necessary for C. carboxidivorans fermentation, whereas the presence of tungsten played a crucial role in both cell growth and solvent production.

CONCLUSIONS

The optimization of the medium composition in CO fermentation by Clostridium carboxidivorans is crucial for cost-effective solvent production. Tuning the yeast extract (YE) concentration, using pure cysteine as the reducing agent and reducing trace metal concentration contribute to reasonable solvent production within a relatively short fermentation period. Tungsten is essential for cell growth and solvent production, while selenium is not required.

Production of acetone, butanol, and ethanol by electro-fermentation with Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4

This manuscript describes the effect of altering the extracellular redox potential during the production of acetone, butanol, and ethanol on a dual chamber H-type microbial fuel cell by fermenting glucose with Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4. Extracellular redox potential modification was achieved by either supplementing the microbial broth with the redox agent NADH or by poising the cathode potential at -600 mV vs. Ag/AgCl. The addition of NADH was found to foment the production of acetone via fermentation of glucose. The addition of 200 mM of NADH to the catholyte rendered the highest production of acetone (2.4 g L^-1), thus outperforming the production of acetone by conventional fermentation means (control treatment) by a factor of 2.2. The experimental evidence gathered here, indicates that cathodic electro-fermentation of glucose favors the production of butanol. When poising the cathode potential at -600 mV vs Ag/AgCl (electro-fermentation), the largest production of butanol was achieved (5.8 g L^-1), outperforming the control treatment by a factor of 1.5. The production of ABE solvents and the electrochemical measurements demonstrate the electroactive properties of C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4 and illustrates the usefulness of bio-electrochemical systems to improve conventional fermentative processes.

Control of redox potential in a novel continuous bioelectrochemical system led to remarkable metabolic and energetic responses of Clostridium pasteurianum grown on glycerol

BACKGROUND

Electro-fermentation (EF) is an emerging tool for bioprocess intensification. Benefits are especially expected for bioprocesses in which the cells are enabled to exchange electrons with electrode surfaces directly. It has also been demonstrated that the use of electrical energy in BES can increase bioprocess performance by indirect secondary effects. In this case, the electricity is used to alter process parameters and indirectly activate desired pathways. In many bioprocesses, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) is a crucial process parameter. While C. pasteurianum fermentation of glycerol has been shown to be significantly influenced electrochemically, the underlying mechanisms are not clear. To this end, we developed a system for the electrochemical control of ORP in continuous culture to quantitatively study the effects of ORP alteration on C. pasteurianum by metabolic flux analysis (MFA), targeted metabolomics, sensitivity and regulation analysis.

RESULTS

In the ORP range of -462 mV to -250 mV, the developed algorithm enabled a stable anodic electrochemical control of ORP at desired set-points and a fixed dilution rate of 0.1 h-1. An overall increase of 57% in the molar yield for 1,3-propanediol was observed by an ORP increase from -462 to -250 mV. MFA suggests that C. pasteurianum possesses and uses cellular energy generation mechanisms in addition to substrate-level phosphorylation. The sensitivity analysis showed that ORP exerted its strongest impact on the reaction of pyruvate-ferredoxin-oxidoreductase. The regulation analysis revealed that this influence is mainly of a direct nature. Hence, the observed metabolic shifts are primarily caused by direct inhibition of the enzyme upon electrochemical production of oxygen. A similar effect was observed for the enzyme pyruvate-formate-lyase at elevated ORP levels.

CONCLUSIONS

The results show that electrochemical ORP alteration is a suitable tool to steer the metabolism of C. pasteurianum and increase product yield for 1,3-propanediol in continuous culture. The approach might also be useful for application with further anaerobic or anoxic bioprocesses. However, to maximize the technique's efficiency, it is essential to understand the chemistry behind the ORP change and how the microbial system responds to it by transmitted or direct effects.

Molecular characterization of the missing electron pathways for butanol synthesis in Clostridium acetobutylicum

Clostridium acetobutylicum is a promising biocatalyst for the renewable production of n-butanol. Several metabolic strategies have already been developed to increase butanol yields, most often based on carbon pathway redirection. However, it has previously demonstrated that the activities of both ferredoxin-NADP⁺ reductase and ferredoxin-NAD⁺ reductase, whose encoding genes remain unknown, are necessary to produce the NADPH and the extra NADH needed for butanol synthesis under solventogenic conditions. Here, we purify, identify and partially characterize the proteins responsible for both activities and demonstrate the involvement of the identified enzymes in butanol synthesis through a reverse genetic approach. We further demonstrate the yield of butanol formation is limited by the level of expression of CA_C0764, the ferredoxin-NADP⁺ reductase encoding gene and the bcd operon, encoding a ferredoxin-NAD⁺ reductase. The integration of these enzymes into metabolic engineering strategies introduces opportunities for developing a homobutanologenic C. acetobutylicum strain.

Ferredoxin-NAD(P) + oxidoreductases are important enzymes for redox balancing in n-butanol production by Clostridium acetobutylicum, but the encoding genes remain unknown. Here, the authors identify the long sought-after genes and increase n-butanol production by optimizing the levels of the two enzymes.

High butanol/acetone ratio featured ABE production using mixture of glucose and waste Pichia pastoris medium-based butyrate fermentation supernatant

In this study, butanol (ABE) fermentations were implemented in a 7 L anaerobic fermentor, by directly using the mixture of glucose solution with the corn/waste Pichia pastoris medium-based butyrate fermentation supernatants (BFS II) as the co-substrate, followed by consecutively feeding of the BFS and concentrated glucose solution. When compared with the major index of ABE fermentation using 150 g/L corn-based medium, butanol concentration could be maintained at high level of 12.7-12.8 g/L, butanol/acetone (B/A) largely increased from ~ 2.0 to 4.4-5.0, butanol yield on total carbon sources increased from 0.32-0.34 to 0.39-0.41 (mol base) with a higher butyrate/glucose consumption ratio of 37%-53%. Efficient utilization of butyrate, SO₄^2-, amino acids, oligosaccharides, etc. in BFS II and the intracellular NADH contributed to the ABE fermentation performance improvement. The proposed strategy could be considered as the second utilization of waste Pichia pastoris, which could save raw materials/operating costs, fully use the oligosaccharides/SO₄^2- in BFS II to relieve the working loads in downstream waste water treatment process, and increase fermentation products diversity/flexibility to deal with the varied marketing prices and requirements.

A neutral red mediated electro-fermentation system of Clostridium beijerinckii for effective co-production of butanol and hydrogen

To enhance the co-production of butanol and hydrogen by the acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation of Clostridium beijerinckii, a novel cathodic electro-fermentation (CEF) system was constructed with neutral red (NR) as electron mediator. With the mediation of NR, production of butanol and hydrogen from glucose in the CEF system achieved 5.49 ± 0.28 g/L and 3.74 ± 0.16 L/L, 569.5% and 325.0% higher than that in the open circuit (OC) system, respectively. The butanol and hydrogen yield of 0.30 ± 0.02 g/g and 206.53 ± 8.20 mL/g was 172.7% and 71.4% higher than that in the OC system, respectively. The effective co-production of butanol and hydrogen in the NR-mediated CEF system was attributed to the cooperation of the introduced polarized electrode and the additional NR. With the control of the polarized electrode, a feasible ORP was available for the effective hydrogen production. And the additional NR had induced more carbon source and electrons to the synthesis of butanol.

Effects of benzyl viologen on increasing NADH availability, acetate assimilation, and butyric acid production by Clostridium tyrobutyricum

Clostridium tyrobutyricum produces butyric and acetic acids from glucose. The butyric acid yield and selectivity in the fermentation depend on NADH available for acetate reassimilation to butyric acid. In this study, benzyl viologen (BV), an artificial electron carrier that inhibits hydrogen production, was used to increase NADH availability and butyric acid production while eliminating acetic acid accumulation by facilitating its reassimilation. To better understand the mechanism of and find the optimum condition for BV effect on enhancing acetate assimilation and butyric acid production, BV at various concentrations and addition times during the fermentation were studied. Compared with the control without BV, the addition of 1 μM BV increased butyric acid production from glucose by ∼50% in yield and ∼29% in productivity while acetate production was completely inhibited. Furthermore, BV also increased the coutilization of glucose and exogenous acetate for butyric acid production. At a concentration ratio of acetate (g/L) to BV (mM) of 4, both acetate assimilation and butyrate biosynthesis increased with increasing the concentrations of BV (0-6.25 μM) and exogenous acetate (0-25 g/L). In a fed-batch fermentation with glucose and ∼15 g/L acetate and 3.75 μM BV, butyrate production reached 55.9 g/L with productivity 0.93 g/L/h, yield 0.48 g/g, and 97.4% purity, which would facilitate product purification and reduce production cost. Manipulating metabolic flux and redox balance via BV and acetate addition provided a simple to implement metabolic process engineering approach for butyric acid production from sugars and biomass hydrolysates.

Flavin secretion of Clostridium acetobutylicum in a bioelectrochemical system - Is an iron limitation involved?

A flavin-based extracellular electron transfer mechanism (EET) has recently been described for the gram-positive Listeria monocytogenes. The gram-positive, solvent producing Clostridium acetobutylicum is a known flavin producer. Since flavin secretion in C. acetobutylicum can be triggered by a low-iron environment, the interaction of iron with an electrochemical system as well as the consequences for flavin production are investigated. It is shown that iron adsorbs onto the electrode's surface in the form of iron phosphorus compounds but that this iron is still bioavailable. Moreover, a shift in the flavin spectrum of the supernatant from high flavin mononucleotide percentages of 59% to high riboflavin (43-45%) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD, 40-48%) content can be seen by limiting or omitting the iron source from the culture medium. When additionally an electric potential of -600 mV vs. Ag/AgCl (saturated KCl) is applied, the same overall trend is obtained but an increase in flavin concentration and especially in the FAD share between 6 and 27% is observed. This study is a first hint that a flavin-based EET might also take place in solventogenic Clostridia and highlights the importance of further investigation of flavin production and their involvement in EET mechanisms in different species.

Consolidated bioprocessing of butanol production from xylan by a thermophilic and butanologenic Thermoanaerobacterium sp. M5

BACKGROUND

Consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) has attracted increasing attention since it can accomplish hydrolytic enzymes production, lignocellulose degradation and microbial fermentation in one single step. Currently, biobutanol is mainly produced by mesophilic and solventogenic clostridia, such as Clostridium beijerinckii and C. acetobutylicum, which cannot directly utilize lignocellulose, an abundant, renewable and economic feedstock. Hence, metabolic construction or isolation of novel cellulolytic/hemicellulolytic and solventogenic bacteria to achieve direct butanol production from lignocellulose offers a promising alternative.

RESULTS

In this study, a newly isolated Thermoanaerobacterium sp. M5 could directly produce butanol from xylan through CBP at 55 °C via the butanol-ethanol pathway. Further genomic and proteomic analysis showed that the capabilities of efficient xylan degradation and butanol synthesis were attributed to the efficient expression of xylanase, β-xylosidase and the bifunctional alcohol/aldehyde dehydrogenase (AdhE). Process optimization based on the characteristic of AdhE could further improve the final butanol titer to 1.17 g/L from xylan through CBP. Furthermore, a new co-cultivation system consisting of Thermoanaerobacterium sp. M5 which could release xylose from xylan efficiently and C. acetobutylicum NJ4 which possesses the capacity of high butanol production was established. This microbial co-cultivation system could improve the butanol titer to 8.34 g/L, representing the highest butanol titer from xylan through CBP.

CONCLUSIONS

A newly thermophilic and butanogenic bacterium Thermoanaerobacterium sp. M5 was isolated and key enzymes responsible for butanol production were characterized in this study. High butanol titer was obtained from xylan through process optimization. In addition, the newly set up microbial co-cultivation system, consisting of Thermoanaerobacterium sp. M5 and C. acetobutylicum NJ4, achieved the highest butanol production from xylan compared with the reported co-cultivation systems.

Modulation of the Acetone/Butanol Ratio during Fermentation of Corn Stover-Derived Hydrolysate by Clostridium beijerinckii Strain NCIMB 8052

Producing biobutanol from lignocellulosic biomass has shown promise to ultimately reduce greenhouse gases and alleviate the global energy crisis. However, because of the recalcitrance of a lignocellulosic biomass, a pretreatment of the substrate is needed which in many cases releases soluble lignin compounds (SLCs), which inhibit growth of butanol-producing clostridia. In this study, we found that SLCs changed the acetone/butanol ratio (A/B ratio) during butanol fermentation. The typical A/B molar ratio during Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 batch fermentation with glucose as the carbon source is about 0.5. In the present study, the A/B molar ratio during batch fermentation with a lignocellulosic hydrolysate as the carbon source was 0.95 at the end of fermentation. Structural and redox potential changes of the SLCs were characterized before and after fermentation by using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and electrochemical analyses, which indicated that some exogenous SLCs were involved in distributing electron flow to C. beijerinckii, leading to modulation of the redox balance. This was further demonstrated by the NADH/NAD⁺ ratio and trxB gene expression profile assays at the onset of solventogenic growth. As a result, the A/B ratio of end products changed significantly during C. beijerinckii fermentation using corn stover-derived hydrolysate as the carbon source compared to glucose as the carbon source. These results revealed that SLCs not only inhibited cell growth but also modulated the A/B ratio during C. beijerinckii butanol fermentation.IMPORTANCE Bioconversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks to butanol involves pretreatment, during which hundreds of soluble lignin compounds (SLCs) form. Most of these SLCs inhibit growth of solvent-producing clostridia. However, the mechanism by which these compounds modulate electron flow in clostridia remains elusive. In this study, the results revealed that SLCs changed redox balance by producing oxidative stress and modulating electron flow as electron donors. Production of H₂ and acetone was stimulated, while butanol production remained unchanged, which led to a high A/B ratio during C. beijerinckii fermentation using corn stover-derived hydrolysate as the carbon source. These observations provide insight into utilizing C. beijerinckii to produce butanol from a lignocellulosic biomass.

Metabolic flexibility of a butyrate pathway mutant of Clostridium acetobutylicum

Clostridium acetobutylicum possesses two homologous buk genes, buk (or buk1) and buk2, which encode butyrate kinases involved in the last step of butyrate formation. To investigate the contribution of buk in detail, an in-frame deletion mutant was constructed. However, in all the Δbuk mutants obtained, partial deletions of the upstream ptb gene were observed, and low phosphotransbutyrylase and butyrate kinase activities were measured. This demonstrates that i) buk (CA_C3075) is the key butyrate kinase-encoding gene and that buk2 (CA_C1660) that is poorly transcribed only plays a minor role; and ii) strongly suggests that a Δbuk mutant is not viable if the ptb gene is not also inactivated, probably due to the accumulation of butyryl-phosphate, which might be toxic for the cell. One of the ΔbukΔptb mutants was subjected to quantitative transcriptomic (mRNA molecules/cell) and fluxomic analyses in acidogenic, solventogenic and alcohologenic chemostat cultures. In addition to the low butyrate production, drastic changes in metabolic fluxes were also observed for the mutant: i) under acidogenic conditions, the primary metabolite was butanol and a new metabolite, 2-hydroxy-valerate, was produced ii) under solventogenesis, 58% increased butanol production was obtained compared to the control strain under the same conditions, and a very high yield of butanol formation (0.3gg^-1) was reached; and iii) under alcohologenesis, the major product was lactate. Furthermore, at the transcriptional level, adhE2, which encodes an aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase and is known to be a gene specifically expressed in alcohologenesis, was surprisingly highly expressed in all metabolic states in the mutant. The results presented here not only support the key roles of buk and ptb in butyrate formation but also highlight the metabolic flexibility of C. acetobutylicum in response to genetic alteration of its primary metabolism.

The role of 1,3-propanediol production in fermentation of glycerol by Clostridium pasteurianum

Waste crude glycerol from biodiesel production can be used to produce biobutanol using Clostridium pasteurianum with the main products being n-butanol, 1,3-propanediol (PDO) and ethanol. There has been much discrepancy and mystery around the cause and effect of process parameters on the product distribution, thus a better understanding of the pathway regulation is required. This study shows that as process pH decreased, the rate of cell growth and CO2 production also decreased, resulting in slower fermentations, increased duration of butanol production and higher butanol concentrations and yields. The production rate of PDO was multi-modal and the role of PDO appears to function in redox homeostasis. The results also showed that C. pasteurianum displayed little biphasic behavior when compared to Clostridia spp. typically used in ABE fermentation due to the alternative glycolysis-independent reductive pathway of PDO production, rendering it suitable for a continuous fermentation process.

Elucidation of the roles of adhE1 and adhE2 in the primary metabolism of Clostridium acetobutylicum by combining in-frame gene deletion and a quantitative system-scale approach

BACKGROUND

Clostridium acetobutylicum possesses two homologous adhE genes, adhE1 and adhE2, which have been proposed to be responsible for butanol production in solventogenic and alcohologenic cultures, respectively. To investigate their contributions in detail, in-frame deletion mutants of each gene were constructed and subjected to quantitative transcriptomic (mRNA molecules/cell) and fluxomic analyses in acidogenic, solventogenic, and alcohologenic chemostat cultures.

RESULTS

Under solventogenesis, compared to the control strain, only ΔadhE1 mutant exhibited significant changes showing decreased butanol production and transcriptional expression changes in numerous genes. In particular, adhE2 was over expressed (126-fold); thus, AdhE2 can partially replace AdhE1 for butanol production (more than 30 % of the in vivo butanol flux) under solventogenesis. Under alcohologenesis, only ΔadhE2 mutant exhibited striking changes in gene expression and metabolic fluxes, and butanol production was completely lost. Therefore, it was demonstrated that AdhE2 is essential for butanol production and thus metabolic fluxes were redirected toward butyrate formation. Under acidogenesis, metabolic fluxes were not significantly changed in both mutants except the complete loss of butanol formation in ΔadhE2, but numerous changes in gene expression were observed. Furthermore, most of the significantly up- or down-regulated genes under this condition showed the same pattern of change in both mutants.

CONCLUSIONS

This quantitative system-scale analysis confirms the proposed roles of AdhE1 and AdhE2 in butanol formation that AdhE1 is the key enzyme under solventogenesis, whereas AdhE2 is the key enzyme for butanol formation under acidogenesis and alcohologenesis. Our study also highlights the metabolic flexibility of C. acetobutylicum to genetic alterations of its primary metabolism.

In silico analysis of Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 metabolic response to an external electron supply

The biological production of butanol has become an important research field and thanks to genome sequencing and annotation; genome-scale metabolic reconstructions have been developed for several Clostridium species. This work makes use of the iCAC490 model of Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 to analyze its metabolic capabilities and response to an external electron supply through a constraint-based approach using the Constraint-Based Reconstruction Analysis Toolbox. Several analyses were conducted, which included sensitivity, production envelope, and phenotypic phase planes. The model showed that the use of an external electron supply, which acts as co-reducing agent along with glucose-derived reducing power (electrofermentation), results in an increase in the butanol-specific productivity. However, a proportional increase in the butyrate uptake flux is required. Besides, the uptake of external butyrate leads to the coupling of butanol production and growth, which coincides with results reported in literature. Phenotypic phase planes showed that the reducing capacity becomes more limiting for growth at high butyrate uptake fluxes. An electron uptake flux allows the metabolism to reach the growth optimality line. Although the maximum butanol flux does not coincide with the growth optimality line, a butyrate uptake combined with an electron uptake flux would result in an increased butanol volumetric productivity, being a potential strategy to optimize the production of butanol by C. acetobutylicum ATCC 824.

A Quantitative System-Scale Characterization of the Metabolism of Clostridium acetobutylicum

Engineering industrial microorganisms for ambitious applications, for example, the production of second-generation biofuels such as butanol, is impeded by a lack of knowledge of primary metabolism and its regulation. A quantitative system-scale analysis was applied to the biofuel-producing bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum, a microorganism used for the industrial production of solvent. An improved genome-scale model, iCac967, was first developed based on thorough biochemical characterizations of 15 key metabolic enzymes and on extensive literature analysis to acquire accurate fluxomic data. In parallel, quantitative transcriptomic and proteomic analyses were performed to assess the number of mRNA molecules per cell for all genes under acidogenic, solventogenic, and alcohologenic steady-state conditions as well as the number of cytosolic protein molecules per cell for approximately 700 genes under at least one of the three steady-state conditions. A complete fluxomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic analysis applied to different metabolic states allowed us to better understand the regulation of primary metabolism. Moreover, this analysis enabled the functional characterization of numerous enzymes involved in primary metabolism, including (i) the enzymes involved in the two different butanol pathways and their cofactor specificities, (ii) the primary hydrogenase and its redox partner, (iii) the major butyryl coenzyme A (butyryl-CoA) dehydrogenase, and (iv) the major glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. This study provides important information for further metabolic engineering of C. acetobutylicum to develop a commercial process for the production of n-butanol.

Currently, there is a resurgence of interest in Clostridium acetobutylicum, the biocatalyst of the historical Weizmann process, to produce n-butanol for use both as a bulk chemical and as a renewable alternative transportation fuel. To develop a commercial process for the production of n-butanol via a metabolic engineering approach, it is necessary to better characterize both the primary metabolism of C. acetobutylicum and its regulation. Here, we apply a quantitative system-scale analysis to acidogenic, solventogenic, and alcohologenic steady-state C. acetobutylicum cells and report for the first time quantitative transcriptomic, proteomic, and fluxomic data. This approach allows for a better understanding of the regulation of primary metabolism and for the functional characterization of numerous enzymes involved in primary metabolism.

Neutral red-mediated microbial electrosynthesis by Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Zymomonas mobilis

The aim of this work was to compare the effects of electrosynthesis on different bacterial species. The effects of neutral red-mediated electrosynthesis on the metabolite profiles of three microorganisms: Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Zymomonas mobilis, were measured and compared and contrasted. A statistically comprehensive analysis of neutral red-mediated electrosynthesis is presented using the analysis of end-product profiles, current delivered, and changes in cellular protein expression. K. pneumoniae displayed the most dramatic response to electrosynthesis of the three bacteria, producing 93% more ethanol and 76% more lactate vs. control fermentation with no neutral red and no electron delivery. Z. mobilis showed no response to electrosynthesis except elevated acetate titers. Stoichiometric comparison showed that NAD(+) reduction by neutral red could not account for changes in metabolites during electrosynthesis. Neutral red-mediated electrosynthesis was shown to have multifarious effects on the three species.

Enhancing Butanol Production under the Stress Environments of Co-Culturing Clostridium acetobutylicum/Saccharomyces cerevisiae Integrated with Exogenous Butyrate Addition

In this study, an efficient acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation strategy integrating Clostridium acetobutylicum/Saccharomyces cerevisiae co-culturing system with exogenous butyrate addition, was proposed and experimentally conducted. In solventogenic phase, by adding 0.2 g-DCW/L-broth viable S. cerevisiae cells and 4.0 g/L-broth concentrated butyrate solution into C. acetobutylicum culture broth, final butanol concentration and butanol/acetone ratio in a 7 L anaerobic fermentor reached the highest levels of 15.74 g/L and 2.83 respectively, with the increments of 35% and 43% as compared with those of control. Theoretical and experimental analysis revealed that, the proposed strategy could, 1) extensively induce secretion of amino acids particularly lysine, which are favorable for both C. acetobutylicum survival and butanol synthesis under high butanol concentration environment; 2) enhance the utilization ability of C. acetobutylicum on glucose and over-produce intracellular NADH for butanol synthesis in C. acetobutylicum metabolism simultaneously; 3) direct most of extra consumed glucose into butanol synthesis route. The synergetic actions of effective amino acids assimilation, high rates of substrate consumption and NADH regeneration yielded highest butanol concentration and butanol ratio in C. acetobutylicum under this stress environment. The proposed method supplies an alternative way to improve ABE fermentation performance by traditional fermentation technology.

Metabolic process engineering of Clostridium tyrobutyricum Δack-adhE2 for enhanced n-butanol production from glucose: effects of methyl viologen on NADH availability, flux distribution, and fermentation kinetics

Butanol biosynthesis through aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase (adhE2) is usually limited by NADH availability, resulting in low butanol titer, yield, and productivity. To alleviate this limitation and improve n-butanol production by Clostridium tyrobutyricum Δack-adhE2 overexpressing adhE2, the NADH availability was increased by using methyl viologen (MV) as an artificial electron carrier to divert electrons from ferredoxin normally used for H2 production. In the batch fermentation with the addition of 500 μM MV, H2 , acetate, and butyrate production was reduced by more than 80-90%, while butanol production increased more than 40% to 14.5 g/L. Metabolic flux analysis revealed that butanol production increased in the fermentation with MV because of increased NADH availability as a result of reduced H2 production. Furthermore, continuous butanol production of ∼55 g/L with a high yield of ∼0.33 g/g glucose and extremely low ethanol, acetate, and butyrate production was obtained in fed-batch fermentation with gas stripping for in situ butanol recovery. This study demonstrated a stable and reliable process for high-yield and high-titer n-butanol production by metabolically engineered C. tyrobutyricum by applying MV as an electron carrier to increase butanol biosynthesis.

Methane production from wheat straw with anaerobic sludge by heme supplementation

Wheat straw particles were directly used as substrate for batch anaerobic digestion with anaerobic sludge under 35°C to evaluate the effects of adding heme on methane production. When 1mg/l heme was added to the fermentation process with no agitated speed, a maximum cumulative methane production of 12227.8ml was obtained with cumulative methane yield of wheat straw was 257.4ml/g-TS (total solid), which was increased by 20.6% compared with 213.5ml/g-TS of no heme was added in the reactor. Meanwhile, oxido-reduction potential (ORP) level was decreased, the activity of coenzyme F420 was significantly improved and NADH/NAD(+) ratio were the highest than other experimental groups. These results suggest that heme-supplemented anaerobic sludge with no agitated speed may be providing a more reductive environment, which is a cost-effective method of anaerobic digestion from biomass waste to produce methane with less energy consuming.

Effects of H2 and electrochemical reducing power on metabolite production by Clostridium acetobutylicum KCTC1037

A conventional fermenter (CF), a single-cathode fermenter (SCF), and a double-cathode fermenter (DCF) were employed to evaluate and compare the effects of H2 and electrochemical reducing power on metabolite production by Clostridium acetobutylicum KCTC1037. The source of the external reducing power for CF was H2, for the SCF was electrochemically reduced neutral red-modified graphite felt electrode (NR-GF), and for the DCF was electrochemically reduced combination of NR-GF and platinum plate electrodes (NR-GF/PtP). The metabolites produced from glucose or CO2 by strain KCTC1037 cultivated in the DCF were butyrate, ethanol, and butanol, but ethanol and butanol were not produced from glucose or CO2 by strain KCTC1037 cultivated in the CF and SCF. It is possible that electrochemically reduced NR-GF/PtP is a more effective source of internal and external reducing power than H2 or NR-GF for strain KCTC1037 to produce metabolites from glucose and CO2. This research might prove useful in developing fermentation technology to actualize direct bioalcohol production of fermentation bacteria from CO2.

Succinic acid production by Actinobacillus succinogenes NJ113 using corn steep liquor powder as nitrogen source

In this study, corn steep liquor powder (CSL) was used as nitrogen source to replace the relatively costly yeast extract typically used for the production of succinic acid with Actinobacillus succinogenes NJ113. Moreover, when heme was added to the fermentation medium and the culture was agitated at a low speed, a maximum succinic acid concentration of 37.9 g/l was obtained from a glucose concentration of 50 g/l, and a productivity of 0.75 g/l/h was achieved. These yields are almost as high as for fermentation with glucose and yeast extract. These results suggest that heme-supplemented CSL may be a suitable alternative nitrogen source for a cost-effective method of producing succinic acid with A. succinogenes NJ113 while consuming less energy than previous methods.

Redox potential control and applications in microaerobic and anaerobic fermentations

Many fermentation products are produced under microaerobic or anaerobic conditions, in which oxygen is undetectable by dissolved oxygen probe, presenting a challenge for process monitoring and control. Extracellular redox potentials that can be detected conveniently affect intracellular redox homeostasis and metabolism, and consequently control profiles of fermentation products, which provide an alternative for monitoring and control of these fermentation processes. This article reviews updated progress in the impact of redox potentials on gene expression, protein biosynthesis and metabolism as well as redox potential control strategies for more efficient production of fermentation products, taking ethanol fermentation by the yeast Saccharomyces under microaerobic conditions and butanol production by the bacterium Clostridium under anaerobic conditions as examples.

Performance of batch, fed-batch, and continuous A-B-E fermentation with pH-control

Batch, fed-batch, and continuous A-B-E fermentations were conducted and compared with pH controlled at 4.5, the optimal range for solvent production. While the batch mode provides the highest solvent yield, the continuous mode was preferred in terms of butanol yield and productivity. The highest butanol yield and productivity found in the continuous fermentation at dilution rate of 0.1h(-1) were 0.21 g-butanol/g-glucose and 0.81 g/L/h, respectively. In the continuous and fed-batch fermentation, the time needed for passing acidogenesis to solventogenesis was an intrinsic hindrance to higher butanol productivity. Therefore, a low dilution rate is suggested for the continuous A-B-E fermentation, while the fed-batch mode is not suggested for solvent production. While 3:6:1 ratio of acetone, butanol, and ethanol is commonly observed from A-B-E batch fermentation by Clostridium acetobutylicum when the pH is uncontrolled, up to 94% of the produced solvent was butanol in the chemostat with pH controlled at 4.5.

An electron-flow model can predict complex redox reactions in mixed-culture fermentative bioH2: microbial ecology evidence

We developed the first model for predicting community structure in mixed-culture fermentative biohydrogen production using electron flows and NADH2 balances. A key assumption of the model is that H2 is produced only via the pyruvate decarboxylation-ferredoxin-hydrogenase pathway, which is commonly the case for fermentation by Clostridium and Ethanoligenens species. We experimentally tested the model using clone libraries to gauge community structures with mixed cultures in which we did not pre-select for specific bacterial groups, such as spore-formers. For experiments having final pHs 3.5 and 4.0, where H2 yield and soluble end-product distribution were distinctly different, we established stoichiometric reactions for each condition by using experimentally determined electron equivalent balances. The error in electron balancing was only 3% at final pH 3.5, in which butyrate and acetate were dominant organic products and the H2 yield was 2.1 mol H2/mol glucose. Clone-library analysis showed that clones affiliated with Clostridium sp. BL-22 and Clostridium sp. HPB-16 were dominant at final pH 3.5. For final pH 4.0, the H2 yield was 0.9 mol H2/mol glucose, ethanol, and acetate were the dominant organic products, and the electron balance error was 13%. The significant error indicates that a second pathway for H2 generation was active. The most abundant clones were affiliated with Klebsiella pneumoniae, which uses the formate-cleavage pathway for H2 production. Thus, the clone-library analyses confirmed that the model predictions for when the pyruvate decarboxylation-ferredoxin-hydrogenase pathway was (final pH 3.5) or was not (final pH 4.0) dominant. With the electron-flow model, we can easily assess the main mechanisms for H2 formation and the dominant H2-producing bacteria in mixed-culture fermentative bioH2.