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Title: Enhanced ethanol formation by Clostridium thermocellum via pyruvate decarboxylase

Journal Article · · Microbial Cell Factories

Here, pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) is a well-known pathway for ethanol production, but has not been demonstrated for high titer ethanol production at temperatures above 50 °C. Here we examined the thermostability of eight PDCs. The purified bacterial enzymes retained 20% of activity after incubation for 30 min at 55 °C. Expression of these PDC genes, except the one from Zymomonas mobilis, improved ethanol production by Clostridium thermocellum. Ethanol production was further improved by expression of the heterologous alcohol dehydrogenase gene adhA from Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum. Finally, the best PDC enzyme was from Acetobactor pasteurianus. A strain of C. thermocellum expressing the pdc gene from A. pasteurianus and the adhA gene from T. saccharolyticum was able to produce 21.3 g/L ethanol from 60 g/L cellulose, which is 70% of the theoretical maximum yield.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1618893
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1474857
Journal Information:
Microbial Cell Factories, Journal Name: Microbial Cell Factories Vol. 16 Journal Issue: 1; ISSN 1475-2859
Publisher:
Springer Science + Business MediaCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 26 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (6)

Engineering Clostridium for improved solvent production: recent progress and perspective journal May 2019
A mutation in the AdhE alcohol dehydrogenase of Clostridium thermocellum increases tolerance to several primary alcohols, including isobutanol, n-butanol and ethanol journal February 2019
CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) as transcriptional repression tool for Hungateiclostridium thermocellum DSM 1313 journal August 2019
Metabolome analysis reveals a role for glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase in the inhibition of C. thermocellum by ethanol journal November 2017
Expressing the Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum pforA in engineered Clostridium thermocellum improves ethanol production journal September 2018
Metabolic engineering of Clostridium thermocellum for n-butanol production from cellulose journal July 2019