Increase in ethanol yield via elimination of lactate production in an ethanol-tolerant mutant of Clostridium thermocellum

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2014 · PLoS ONE

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086389· OSTI ID:1126962

Biswas, Ranjita ^[1]; Prabhu, Sandeep ^[1]; Lynd, Lee R ^[2]; Guss, Adam M ^[1]

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1. ORNL
2. Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth

Large-scale production of lignocellulosic biofuel is a potential solution to sustainably meet global energy needs. One-step consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) is a potentially advantageous approach for the production of biofuels, but requires an organism capable of hydrolyzing biomass to sugars and fermenting the sugars to ethanol at commercially viable titers and yields. Clostridium thermocellum, a thermophilic anaerobe, can ferment cellulosic biomass to ethanol and organic acids, but low yield, low titer, and ethanol sensitivity remain barriers to industrial production. Here, we deleted the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase gene in ethanol tolerant strain of C. thermocellum adhE*(EA) in order to allow use of previously developed gene deletion tools, then deleted lactate dehydrogenase (ldh) to redirect carbon flux towards ethanol. Upon deletion of ldh, the adhE*(EA) ldh strain produced 30% more ethanol than wild type on minimal medium. The adhE*(EA) ldh strain retained tolerance to 5% v/v ethanol, resulting in an ethanol tolerant platform strain of C. thermocellum for future metabolic engineering efforts.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); BioEnergy Science Center (BESC)
• Sponsoring Organization: SC USDOE - Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1126962
• Journal Information: PLoS ONE, Journal Name: PLoS ONE Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 9; ISSN 1932-6203
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English