Alcohol Clostridium acetobutylicum

Young M, Minton NP, Staudenbauer WL (1989) Recent advances in the genetics of the Clostridia. FEMS Microbiol Rev 63 301-326 Youngleson JS, Santangelo JD, Jones DT, Woods DR (1988) Cloning and e3q>ression of a Clostridium acetobutylicum alcohol dehydrogenase gene in Escherichia coli. Appl Environ Microbiol 54 676-682... 

Weizmann discovered a process to produce butyl alcohol and acetone from the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum in 1914. With England s urgent demand for acetone, Winston Churchill (1874-1965) enlisted Weizmann to develop the Weizmann process for acetone production on an industrial scale. Large industrial plants were established in Canada, India, and the United States to provide the allies with acetone for munitions. Weizmann, who is considered the father of industrial fermentation, obtained significant status from his war contributions and used this to further his political mission of establishing a Jewish homeland. Weizmann was a leader of the Zionist movement and campaigned aggressively until the nation of Israel was established in 1948. He was the first president of Israel. 

Davies, R. 1942A. Studies on the acetone-butyl alcohol fermentation. II. Intermediates in the fermentation of glucose by Clostridium acetobutylicum. Biochem. J. 36, 582-596. 

Alcoholic fermentation by certain yeasts is used commercially to produce wine, beer, and bread (Special Interest Box 8.1). Certain bacterial species produce alcohols other than ethanol. For example, Clostridium acetobutylicum, an organism related to the causative agents of botulism and tetanus, produces butanol. Until recently, this organism was used commercially to synthesize butanol, an alcohol used to produce detergents and synthetic fibers. A petroleum-based synthetic process has now replaced microbial fermentation. 

Water can be removed from methanol by a membrane of polyvinyl alcohol cross-linked with polyacrylic acid, with a separation factor of 465.204 A polymeric hydrazone of 2,6-pyridinedialdehyde has been used to dehydrate azeotropes of water with n- and /-propyl alcohol, s- and tort butyl alcohol, and tetrahydrofuran.205 The Clostridium acetobutylicum which is used to produce 1-butanol, is inhibited by it. Pervaporation through a poly(dimethyl-siloxane) membrane filled with cyclodextrins, zeolites, or oleyl alcohol kept the concentration in the broth lower than 1% and removed the inhibition.206 Acetic acid can be dehydrated with separation factors of 807 for poly(4-methyl-l-pentene) grafted with 4-vinylpyridine,207 150 for polyvinyl alcohol cross-linked with glutaraldehyde,208 more than 1300 for a doped polyaniline film (4.1 g/m2h),209 125 for a nylon-polyacrylic acid membrane (5400 g/m2h), and 72 for a polysulfone.210 Pyridine can be dehydrated with a membrane of a copolymer of acrylonitrile and 4-styrenesulfonic acid to give more than 99% pyridine.211 A hydrophobic silicone rubber membrane removes acetone selectively from water. A hydrophilic cross-linked polyvinyl alcohol membrane removes water selectively from acetone. Both are more selective than distillation.212... 

Alcohol dehydrogenase has been studied in several bacteria. Apart from work cited in Sund and Theorell (1), the following sources may be mentioned Clostridium acetobutylicum (481), Escherichia coli (482),... 

Rao, G. and Mutharasan, R. (1986) Alcohol production by Clostridium acetobutylicum induced by methyl viologen. Biotechnol. Lett, 8, 893-896. 

Zhang, L., Nie, X., Ravcheev, D.A., Rodionov, D.A. et al. (2014) Redox-responsive repressor Rex modulates alcohol production and oxidative stress tolerance in Clostridium acetobutylicum. J. Bacteriol, 196,... 

Green, E.M. and Bennett, G.N. (1996) Inactivation of an aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase gene from Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824. Appl. 

Weizmann s discovery was a bacillus and a process. The bacillus was Clostridium acetobutylicum Weizmann, informally called B-Y ( bacillus-Weizmann ), an anerobic organism that decomposes starch. He was trying to develop a process for making synthetic rubber when he found it, on an ear of corn. He thought he could make synthetic rubber from isoamyl alcohol, which is a minor byproduct of alcoholic fermentation. He went looking for a bacillus—millions of species and subspecies live in the soil and on plants—that converted starch to isoamyl alcohol more efficiently than known strains. In the course of this investigation I found a bacterium which produced considerable amounts of a liquid smelling very much like... 

FIGURE 9.2 Physiology of ABE fermentation metabolism of Clostridium acetobutylicum with the respective enzymes and products. CoA, coenzyme A Ldh, lactate dehydrogenase Pdc, pyruvate decarboxylase Pfor, pyruvate ferredoxin oxidoreductase Fdred, ferredoxin reduced Thl, thiolase Hbd, p-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase Crt, crotonase Bed, butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase Etf, electron transfer flavoprotein Pta, phosphotransacetylase Ack, acetate kinase Ptb, phosphotransbutyrylase Buk, butyrate kinase Ctf A/B, acetoacetyl-CoA acyl-CoA transferase Adc, acetoacetate decarboxylase AdhE, aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase Bdh, butanol dehydrogenase. 

Dai Z, Dong H, Zhu Y, Zhang Y, Li Y, Ma Y. (2012). Introducing a single secondary alcohol dehydrogenase into butanol-tolerant Clostridium acetobutylicum Rh8 switches ABE fermentation to high level IBE fermentation. Biotechrwl Biofuels, 5,44. 

Tummala SB, Junne SG, Papoutsakis ET. (2003a). Antisense RNA downregulation of coenzyme a transferase combined with alcohol-aldehyde dehydrogenase overexpression leads to predominantly alcohologenic Clostridium acetobutylicum fermentations. J Bacterial, 185, 3644-3653. 

Fernbach A, Strange EH (1911) Acetone and higher alcohols (amyl, butyl or ethyl alcohols and butyric, propionic or a< ic acid) from starches, sugars and other carbohydrates. British Patent 15203-15204 Fischer RJ, Helms J, Dii P (1993) Cloning, sequencing and molecular analysis of the sol operon of Clostridium acetobutylicum, a chromosomal locus involved in solventogenesis. J Bacteriol 175 6959-6969 Fond O, Jansen NB, Tsao GT (1985) A model of acetic acid and 2,3-butanediol inhibition of the growth and metabolism of Klebsiella oxytoca. Biotechnol Lett 7 727-732... 

Nair RV, Bennett GN, Papoutsakis ET (1994) Molecular characterization of an alcohol/aldehyde dehydrogenase gene of Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824. J Bacteriol 176 871-885... 

Eggeman T, Verser D (2006) The importance of utility systems in today s biorelineries and a vision for tomorrow. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 129-132 361-81 Evans PJ, Wang HY (1988) Enhancement of butanol formation by Clostridium acetobutylicum in the presence of decanol-oleyl alcohol mixed extractants. Appl Environ Microbiol 54(7) 1662-... 

Eischer CR, Klem-Marcuschamer D, Stephanopoulos G (2008) Selection and optimization of microbial hosts for biofuels production. Metab Eng 10(6) 295-304 Eontaine L et al (2002) Molecular characterization and transcriptional analysis of adhE2, the gene encoding the NADH-dependent aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase responsible for butanol production in alcohologenic cultures of Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824. J Bacteriol 184 (3) 821-30... 

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