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Transcriptomic Profiles of Xylose-utilizing Zymomonas mobilis 8b to Pretreatment Inhibitor Furfural

ABSTRACT: Background: Lignocellulosic biomass is a promising renewable feedstock for the microbial production of fuels. To release the major fermentable sugars such as glucose and xylose, pretreatment, hydrolysis, and subsequent conditioning of biomass feedstock are needed. During this process, many toxic compounds are produced or introduced which subsequently inhibit microbial growth and in many cases the production titer and rate. An understanding of the toxic effects of compounds found in hydrolysate on the fermentation microorganism is critical to improving biofuel yields in the process. One of the inhibitory compounds is furfural, liberated from hemicelluloses, which strongly inhibits the cell growth and ethanol production especially from xylose. Zymomonas mobilis is a capable ethanologenic bacterium with high ethanol productivity and high levels of ethanol tolerance. The development of robust biocatalyst to tolerate the lignocellulosic pretreatment inhibitors is one of the key elements for economic biofuel production. Results: In this study, the molecular responses of Z. mobilis to furfural, one major pretreatment inhibitor, were investigated using transcriptomic approaches of chip-based microarray. Furfural shock time course experiment with 3 g/L furfural supplemented when cells reach exponential phase and stress response experiment in the presence of 2 g/L furfural from the beginning of fermentation were carried out to study the short and long-term effect of furfural on 8b physiological and transcriptional profiles. The presence and supplementation of furfural negatively affect 8b growth in terms of final biomass and the fermentation time. Transcriptomic studies indicated that the response of 8b to furfural is dynamic, complex and differences exist between short-term shock response and long-term stress response. However, the gene function categories are similar with most downregulated genes related to translation and biosynthesis, while the furfural-upregulated genes were mostly related to cellular processes of general stress response and energy metabolism. Conclusions: Similar to previous report that acetate inhibited the growth of Z. mobilis 8b in RM using glucose or xylose as carbon source, the existence or supplementation of another major hydrolysate inhibitor furfural also inhibited 8b growth with slowing the substrate utilization and ethanol production. The difference between carbon sources is more dramatic than that of the major hydrolysate inhibitors of both NH4OAc (GSE57553) and furfural (this study). Several gene targets have been selected for genetic studies with promising preliminary results.

ORGANISM(S): Zymomonas mobilis

PROVIDER: GSE63540 | GEO | 2016/11/18

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA268170

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Background: Lignocellulosic biomass is a promising renewable feedstock for the microbial production of fuels. To release the major fermentable sugars such as glucose and xylose, pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass feedstock are needed. During this process, many toxic compounds are produced or introduced which subsequently inhibit microbial growth and eventually the production rate and yield. Acetate is one of the major inhibitors liberated from hemicelluloses during dilute acid pretreatment. An understanding of the toxic effects of acetate on the fermentation microorganism is critical to improving biofuel yields in the process. In addition, the efficient utilization of mixed sugars of glucose and xylose in the presence of hydrolysate inhibitors is crucial for economic biofuel production. Results: We have observed previously that some pretreatment inhibitors affect growth and performance in Zymomonas mobilis 8b differently when different sugars (e.g. glucose or xylose) are used as substrate. To investigate this phenomenon at the cellular level, microarray technology was used to investigate the acetate stress responses of Z. mobilis 8b when using single carbon sources of glucose or xylose, and mixed sugars of glucose and xylose. We designed a microarray based on the most up-to-date genome annotation for both coding sequences and intergenic regions. In the presence of acetate, 8b still can utilize all the glucose (though xylose utilization was inhibited) with similar ethanol yield although the growth, final biomass, and ethanol production rate were reduced. The presence of acetate caused genes related to biosynthesis, flagellar system, and glycolysis to be downregulated, and genes related to stress responses and energy metabolism to be upregulated. Our result indicates that Z. mobilis utilized different mechanism for xylose utilization compared to that of glucose, with even more dramatic results than those caused by treatment of the culture with the inhibitor acetate. Our study also suggests that redox imbalance caused by stressful conditions may trigger a metabolic reaction that leads to the accumulation of toxic intermediates such as xylitol, but Z. mobilis appears to be capable of managing its carbon and energy metabolism through the control of individual reactions to overcome the inhibition caused by stressful conditions. Several target gene candidates based on transcriptomic result have been selected for genetic manipulation and a TonB-dependent receptor knockout mutant was confirmed to have advantage on acetate tolerance. Conclusions: We have gained insights into the molecular responses of the model ethanologenic bacterium Z. mobilis to the inhibitor acetate when grown in different sugar sources. These insights will facilitate future metabolic modeling studies and help further strain metabolic engineering efforts for better xylose utilization and acetate tolerance. Two series of microarray studies using total RNA extracted from Zymomonas mobilis subsp mobilis 8b (an xylose-utilizing recombinant) were carried out to investigate the effect of carbon source and acetate on Z. mobilis. One study compared the acetate effect in either glucose or xylose at exponential phase and another study investigated the acetate effect in mixed sugar of glucose and xylose at three growth phases of exponential, transition, and stationary. Tthree biological replicates were used for each condition.

Project description:Background Lignocellulosic biomass is a promising renewable feedstock for biofuel production. Acetate is one of the major inhibitors liberated from hemicelluloses during hydrolysis. An understanding of the toxic effects of acetate on the fermentation microorganism and the efficient utilization of mixed sugars of glucose and xylose in the presence of hydrolysate inhibitors is crucial for economic biofuel production. Results A new microarray was designed including both coding sequences and intergenic regions to investigate the acetate stress responses of Zymomonas mobilis 8b when using single carbon sources of glucose or xylose, or mixed sugars of both glucose and xylose. With the supplementation of exogenous acetate, 8b can utilize all the glucose with a similar ethanol yield, although the growth, final biomass, and ethanol production rate were reduced. However, xylose utilization was inhibited in both media containing xylose or a mixed sugar of glucose and xylose, although the performance of 8b was better in mixed sugar than xylose-only media. The presence of acetate caused genes related to biosynthesis, the flagellar system, and glycolysis to be downregulated, and genes related to stress responses and energy metabolism to be upregulated. Unexpectedly, xylose seems to pose more stress on 8b, recruiting more genes for xylose utilization, than does acetate. Several gene candidates based on transcriptome results were selected for genetic manipulation, and a TonB-dependent receptor knockout mutant was confirmed to have a slight advantage regarding acetate tolerance. Conclusions Our results indicate Z. mobilis utilized a different mechanism for xylose utilization, with an even more severe impact on Z. mobilis than that caused by acetate treatment. Our study also suggests redox imbalance caused by stressful conditions may trigger a metabolic reaction leading to the accumulation of toxic intermediates such as xylitol, but Z. mobilis manages its carbon and energy metabolism through the control of individual reactions to mitigate the stressful conditions. We have thus provided extensive transcriptomic datasets and gained insights into the molecular responses of Z. mobilis to the inhibitor acetate when grown in different sugar sources, which will facilitate future metabolic modeling studies and strain improvement efforts for better xylose utilization and acetate tolerance.

Project description:Efficient microbial conversion of lignocellulosic hydrolysates to biofuels is a key barrier to the economically viable deployment of lignocellulosic biofuels. A chief contributor to this barrier is the impact on microbial processes and energy metabolism of lignocellulose-derived inhibitors, including phenolic carboxylates, phenolic amides (for ammonia-pretreated biomass), phenolic aldehydes, and furfurals. To understand the bacterial pathways induced by inhibitors present in ammonia-pretreated biomass hydrolysates, which are less well studied than acid-pretreated biomass hydrolysates, we developed and exploited synthetic mimics of ammonia-pretreated corn stover hydrolysate (ACSH). To determine regulatory responses to the inhibitors normally present in ACSH, we measured transcript and protein levels in an Escherichia coli ethanologen using RNA-seq and quantitative proteomics during fermentation to ethanol of synthetic hydrolysates containing or lacking the inhibitors. Our study identified four major regulators mediating these responses, the MarA/SoxS/Rob network, AaeR, FrmR, and YqhC. Induction of these regulons was correlated with a reduced rate of ethanol production, buildup of pyruvate, depletion of ATP and NAD(P)H, and an inhibition of xylose conversion. The aromatic aldehyde inhibitor 5M-bM-^@M-^Qhydroxymethylfurfural appeared to be reduced to its alcohol form by the ethanologen during fermentation, whereas phenolic acid and amide inhibitors were not metabolized. Together, our findings establish that the major regulatory responses to lignocellulose-derived inhibitors are mediated by transcriptional rather than translational regulators, suggest that energy consumed for inhibitor efflux and detoxification may limit biofuel production, and identify a network of regulators for future synthetic biology efforts. E.coli ethanologen strain GLBRCE1 was grown in 4 media, AFEX corn stover hydrolysate (ACSH), synthetic hydrolysate (SynH), synthetic hydrolysate with added lignotoxins (SynH_LT), or synthetic hydrolysate containing acid or amide lignotoxins only (SynH_Acids_Amides). Fermentations were carried out in 3 L bioreactors (Applikon Biotechnology) containing 2.45 L of ACSH or SynH media, and cultures were diluted into ACSH or SynH with initial OD at 0.2, grown anaerobically overnight, and then inoculated into bioreactors to a starting OD600 of 0.2. Two biological replicates (independent cultures) were grown in each medium. RNA samples were obtained at 6 time points, corresponding to early exponential (Exp1), Mid-exponential (Exp2), Late-exponential (Exp3), transitional (Trans), stationary (Stat1) and late stationary (Stat2) growth phases.

Project description:Zymomonas mobilis is an excellent ethanologenic bacterium. Biomass pretreatment and saccharification provides access to simple sugars, but also produces inhibitors such as acetate and furfural. Our previous work has identified and confirmed the genetic change of a 1.5-kb deletion in the sodium acetate tolerant Z. mobilis mutant (AcR) leading to constitutively elevated expression of a sodium proton antiporter encoding gene nhaA, which contributes to the sodium acetate tolerance of AcR mutant. In this study, we further investigated the responses of AcR and wild-type ZM4 to sodium acetate stress in minimum media using both transcriptomics and a metabolic labeling approach for quantitative proteomics the first time. Proteomic measurements at two time points identified about eight hundreds proteins, or about half of the predicted proteome. Extracellular metabolite analysis indicated AcR overcame the acetate stress quicker than ZM4 with a concomitant earlier ethanol production in AcR mutant, although the final ethanol yields and cell densities were similar between two strains. Transcriptomic samples were analyzed for four time points and revealed that the response of Z. mobilis to sodium acetate stress is dynamic, complex and involved about one-fifth of the total predicted genes from all different functional categories. The modest correlations between proteomic and transcriptomic data may suggest the involvement of posttranscriptional control. In addition, the transcriptomic data of forty-four microarrays from four experiments for ZM4 and AcR under different conditions were combined to identify strain-specific, media-responsive, growth phase-dependent, and treatment-responsive gene expression profiles. Together this study indicates that minimal medium has the most dramatic effect on gene expression compared to rich medium followed by growth phase, inhibitor, and strain background. Genes involved in protein biosynthesis, glycolysis and fermentation as well as ATP synthesis and stress response play key roles in Z. mobilis metabolism with consistently strong expression levels under different conditions. A sixteen array study using total RNA recovered from wild-type cultures of Zymomonas mobilis subsp mobilis ZM4 and acetate-tolerant mutant AcR at different time points of 130, 148, 166, and 190h post-inoculation with 10g/L sodium acetate (NaAc) treatment were carried out to investigate the expression differences between ZM4 and AcR. Two biological replicates for treatment or control condition.

Project description:Efficient microbial conversion of lignocellulosic hydrolysates to biofuels is a key barrier to the economically viable deployment of lignocellulosic biofuels. A chief contributor to this barrier is the impact on microbial processes and energy metabolism of lignocellulose-derived inhibitors, including phenolic carboxylates, phenolic amides (for ammonia-pretreated biomass), phenolic aldehydes, and furfurals. To understand the bacterial pathways induced by inhibitors present in ammonia-pretreated biomass hydrolysates, which are less well studied than acid-pretreated biomass hydrolysates, we developed and exploited synthetic mimics of ammonia-pretreated corn stover hydrolysate (ACSH). To determine regulatory responses to the inhibitors normally present in ACSH, we measured transcript and protein levels in an Escherichia coli ethanologen using RNA-seq and quantitative proteomics during fermentation to ethanol of synthetic hydrolysates containing or lacking the inhibitors. Our study identified four major regulators mediating these responses, the MarA/SoxS/Rob network, AaeR, FrmR, and YqhC. Induction of these regulons was correlated with a reduced rate of ethanol production, buildup of pyruvate, depletion of ATP and NAD(P)H, and an inhibition of xylose conversion. The aromatic aldehyde inhibitor 5M-bM-^@M-^Qhydroxymethylfurfural appeared to be reduced to its alcohol form by the ethanologen during fermentation, whereas phenolic acid and amide inhibitors were not metabolized. Together, our findings establish that the major regulatory responses to lignocellulose-derived inhibitors are mediated by transcriptional rather than translational regulators, suggest that energy consumed for inhibitor efflux and detoxification may limit biofuel production, and identify a network of regulators for future synthetic biology efforts. E.coli ethanologen strain GLBRCE1 was grown in 3 media, AFEX corn stover hydrolysate (ACSH), synthetic hydrolysate (SynH) and syntetic hydrolysate with added lignotoxins (SynH_LT). Fermentations were carried out in 3 L bioreactors (Applikon Biotechnology) containing 2.45 L of ACSH or SynH media, and cultures were diluted into ACSH or SynH with initial OD at 0.2, grown anaerobically overnight, and then inoculated into bioreactors to a starting OD600 of 0.2. 3 biological replicates (independent cultures) were grown in each medium. RNA samples were obtained at 4 time points, corresponding to exponential (Exp), transitional (Trans), stationary (Stat1) and late stationary (Stat2) growth phases.

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Transcriptomic Profiles of Xylose-utilizing Zymomonas mobilis 8b to Pretreatment Inhibitor Furfural

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