Project description:Solventogenic Clostridium species ferment carbohydrates to acetone, butanol and ethanol which are well-known next-generation biofuels. However, repeated subculture of or continuous fermentation by Clostridium often decreases and eventually terminates the solvent production and spore formation, which is a process called strain degeneration. Supplementation of CaCO3 to fermentation medium could partially recover metabolism of degenerated strain by more than 50% increase of cell growth and solvent production. The transcriptome profile of Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 (DG-8052) and its response to CaCO3 treatment were analysed by microarray. Since fermentation by C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 is a biphasic process, gene expressions of two fermentations were compared at each stage, i.e. 12h and 24h fermentation time representing acidogenic phase and solventogenic phase, respectively. This study examined expression of 5168 genes capturing 98.6% of the C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 genome. With the addition of CaCO3, DG-8052 had 565 and 916 genes significantly up-regulated at acidogenic phase and solventogenic phase, respectively. According to the enrichment analysis of pathway and Gene Ontology terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway, these genes were significantly overrepresented in cellular functions such as Amino acid transport and metabolism, organic acid biosynthetic process, bacteria chemotaxis and defense mechanisms. On the other hand, there were 704 and 1044 genes significantly down-regulated at acidogenic phase and solventogenic phase, respectively. These repressed genes were mainly enriched in functions such as ion transmembrane transport, ATP synthesis, oxidative phosphorylation.
Project description:Genomic DNA of 61 strains of proteolytic Clostridium botulinum or Clostridium sporogenes was subjected to analysis by DNA microarray.
Project description:The Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 wild-type culture was monitored from exponential growth to stationary phase. During this period the culture underwent a shift from acidogenesis to solventogenesis. Acetone and butanol production was initiated with the onset of the solventogenic phase. Using DNA microarray changes in gene expression were examined during the transitional period. RNA samples were taken from Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 wild-type fermentation culture at individual time points during the acidogenic phase and the solventogenic phase. The samples were used for microarray hybridization.
Project description:The Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 wild-type culture was monitored from exponential growth to stationary phase. During this period the culture underwent a shift from acidogenesis to solventogenesis. Acetone and butanol production was initiated with the onset of the solventogenic phase. Using DNA microarray changes in gene expression were examined during the transitional period.
Project description:The members of the genus Clostridium, such as the other spore-forming anaerobic bacteria, have a complex and strictly regulated life-cycle but very little is known about genetic pathways involved at different stages. Clostridium sporogenes, Gram positive bacterium usually involved in food spoilage and frequently isolated from late blowed cheese is genetically indistinguishable from proteolytic Clostridium botulinum and is the non-neurotoxigenic counterpart often used as exemplar for the toxic subtypes. In this work we have performed a microscopy study combined with a custom array-based analysis of C. sporogenes cycle, from dormant spores to early stationary phase. We identified in spores a total of 211 transcripts validating the ipothesis that mRNAs are abundant and strikingly different from those present in growing cells. The spores transcripts included genes responsible of different life-sustaining functions, suggesting the theory of transcripts entrapment or of a basic poly-functional genes activation for future steps. In addition, after three hours from the beginning of the germination process, a 20% of the total up-regulated genes were temporally expressed in germinating spores. The vegetative condition appears to be the more active in terms of gene transcription and protein synthesis and also genes for germination and sporulation factors seem to be expressed at this point. These results suggest that spores are not silent entities and a wider knowledge about genetic pathways involved in Clostridium life cycle could be of help for a better understanding also of pathogenic clostridia types.