Deletion of the hfsB gene increases ethanol production in Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum and several other thermophilic anaerobic bacteria.

ABSTRACT:

Background

With the discovery of interspecies hydrogen transfer in the late 1960s (Bryant et al. in Arch Microbiol 59:20-31, 1967), it was shown that reducing the partial pressure of hydrogen could cause mixed acid fermenting organisms to produce acetate at the expense of ethanol. Hydrogen and ethanol are both more reduced than glucose. Thus there is a tradeoff between production of these compounds imposed by electron balancing requirements; however, the mechanism is not fully known.

Results

Deletion of the hfsA or B subunits resulted in a roughly 1.8-fold increase in ethanol yield. The increase in ethanol production appears to be associated with an increase in alcohol dehydrogenase activity, which appears to be due, at least in part, to increased expression of

SUBMITTER: Eminoglu A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5707799 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature