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RRNPP-type quorum sensing affects solvent formation and sporulation in Clostridium acetobutylicum.

ABSTRACT: The strictly anaerobic bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum is well known for its ability to convert sugars into organic acids and solvents, most notably the potential biofuel butanol. However, the regulation of its fermentation metabolism, in particular the shift from acid to solvent production, remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate whether cell-cell communication plays a role in controlling the timing of this shift or the extent of solvent formation. Analysis of the available C. acetobutylicum genome sequences revealed the presence of eight putative RRNPP-type quorum-sensing systems, here designated qssA to qssH, each consisting of an RRNPP-type regulator gene followed by a small open reading frame encoding a putative signalling peptide precursor. The identified regulator and signal peptide precursor genes were designated qsrA to qsrH and qspA to qspH, respectively. Triplicate regulator mutants were generated in strain ATCC 824 for each of the eight systems and screened for phenotypic changes. The qsrB mutants showed increased solvent formation during early solventogenesis and hence the QssB system was selected for further characterization. Overexpression of qsrB severely reduced solvent and endospore formation and this effect could be overcome by adding short synthetic peptides to the culture medium representing a specific region of the QspB signalling peptide precursor. In addition, overexpression of qspB increased the production of acetone and butanol and the initial (48?h) titre of heat-resistant endospores. Together, these findings establish a role for QssB quorum sensing in the regulation of early solventogenesis and sporulation in C. acetobutylicum.

SUBMITTER: Kotte AK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7376267 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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RRNPP-type quorum sensing affects solvent formation and sporulation in <i>Clostridium acetobutylicum</i>.

Kotte Ann-Kathrin AK Severn Oliver O Bean Zak Z Schwarz Katrin K Minton Nigel P NP Winzer Klaus K

Microbiology (Reading, England) 20200601 6

The strictly anaerobic bacterium <i>Clostridium acetobutylicum</i> is well known for its ability to convert sugars into organic acids and solvents, most notably the potential biofuel butanol. However, the regulation of its fermentation metabolism, in particular the shift from acid to solvent production, remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate whether cell-cell communication plays a role in controlling the timing of this shift or the extent of solvent formation. Analys ...[more]

PMID: 32375981

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Project description:The acetone-butanol (AB) fermentation process in the anaerobic endospore-forming Gram-positive bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum is useful as a producer of biofuels, particularly butanol. Recent work has concentrated on trying to improve the efficiency of the fermentation method, either through changes in the environmental conditions or by modifying the genome to selectively favour the production of one particular solvent over others. Fermentation of glucose by C. acetobutylicum occurs in two stages: initially the acids acetate and butyrate are produced and excreted and then, as the external pH falls, acetate and butyrate are ingested and further metabolised into the solvents acetone, butanol and ethanol. In order to optimise butanol production, it is important to understand how pH affects the enzyme-controlled reactions in the metabolism process. We adapt an ordinary differential equation model of the metabolic network with regulation at the genetic level for the required enzymes; parametrising the model using experimental data generated from continuous culture, we improve on previous point predictions (S. Haus, S. Jabbari, T. Millat, H. Janssen, R.-J. Fisher, H. Bahl, J. R. King, O. Wolkenhauer, A systems biology approach to investigate the effect of pH-induced gene regulation on solvent production by Clostridium acetobutylicum in continuous culture, BMC Systems Biology 5 (2011)) [1] both by using a different optimisation approach and by computing confidence intervals and correlation coefficients. We find in particular that the parameters are ill-determined from the data and that two separate clusters of parameters appear correlated, reflecting the importance of two metabolic intermediates. We extend the model further to include another aspect of the clostridial survival mechanism, sporulation, and by computation of the Akaike Information Criterion values find that the there is some evidence for the presence of sporulation during the shift.

Dataset Information

RRNPP-type quorum sensing affects solvent formation and sporulation in Clostridium acetobutylicum.

Publications

RRNPP-type quorum sensing affects solvent formation and sporulation in <i>Clostridium acetobutylicum</i>.

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