Ethanol production by the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus by expression of bacterial bifunctional alcohol dehydrogenases.

ABSTRACT: Ethanol is an important target for the renewable production of liquid transportation fuels. It can be produced biologically from pyruvate, via pyruvate decarboxylase, or from acetyl-CoA, by alcohol dehydrogenase E (AdhE). Thermophilic bacteria utilize AdhE, which is a bifunctional enzyme that contains both acetaldehyde dehydrogenase and alcohol dehydrogenase activities. Many of these organisms also contain a separate alcohol dehydrogenase (AdhA) that generates ethanol from acetaldehyde, although the role of AdhA in ethanol production is typically not clear. As acetyl-CoA is a key central metabolite that can be generated from a wide range of substrates, AdhE can serve as a single gene fuel module to produce ethanol through primary metabolic pathways. The focus here is on the hyperthermophil

SUBMITTER: Keller MW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5658578 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature