Conversion of cellulose to ethanol by mesophilic bacteria. Progress report and third year budget

Technical Report · Wed Nov 24 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6611162

Canale-Parola, E

Much of our research has dealt with eight strains of obligately anaerobic bacteria that we isolated from various natural environments as described in last year's progress report. These eight strains (referred to as C strains) are strains of mesophilic, spore-forming, rod-shaped bacteria that ferment cellulose with production of ethanol. We determined quantitatively the fermentation products formed by C strains from cellulose and various other carbohydrates. In all cases ethanol was produced, as well as acetate, CO/sub 2/ and H/sub 2/. The C strains utilized, for ethanol production and growth, a variety of cellulosic substrates ranging from paper to alpha-cellulose. Enzymatic assays and growth studies showed that C strains possessed a celluloase system consisting of endoglucanase, exoglucanase, and cellobiase components. Studies indicated that growth substrates have a regulatory effect(s) on components of the cellulase system of the C strains. another experimental approach is aimed at cloning cellobiase, endoglucanase and exoglucanase genes from the C strains into a suitable vector plasmid and, eventually, at introducing the plasmid into cells of Zymomonas mobilis. The objective of this part of our research is to obtain a Z. mobilis strain capable of fermenting cellobiose and/or cellulose. Plasmids that contained DNA inserts were used to transform E. coli C600 recA. E. coli transformants that had acquired the cellobiase gene were obtained by this procedure. At present, we are attempting to introduce into Z. mobilis cells the vector plasmid purified from the E. coli transformants. In another series of experiments, we have used a new selective procedure to isolate four additional strains of mesophilic, obligately anaerobic, cellulolytic bacteria from natural environments.

• Research Organization: Massachusetts Univ., Amherst (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-81ER10878
• OSTI ID: 6611162
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/10878-T1; ON: DE83004389
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ALCOHOLS
BACTERIA
BIOCONVERSION
BIOSYNTHESIS
CARBOHYDRATES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CELL CONSTITUENTS
CELLOBIOSE
CELLULASE
CELLULOLYTIC ACTIVITY
CELLULOSE
CHALCOGENIDES
CLONING
DISACCHARIDES
DNA
ENZYME ACTIVITY
ENZYMES
ESCHERICHIA COLI
ETHANOL
FERMENTATION
GENETIC ENGINEERING
GLYCOSYL HYDROLASES
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
HYDROLASES
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
METABOLISM
MICROORGANISMS
NUCLEIC ACIDS
O-GLYCOSYL HYDROLASES
OLIGOSACCHARIDES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLASMIDS
POLYSACCHARIDES
RECOMBINANT DNA
SACCHARIDES
SYNTHESIS
ZYMOMONAS MOBILIS