Project description:This study uses iTRAQ based proteomics approach to understand the cellular metabolic machineries present within the Clostridium strain BOH3 (discovered by our group) which can simultaneously utilise both glucose (six carbon sugar) and xylose (five carbon sugar) to produce butanol and riboflavin.
Project description:Clostridium difficile is a gram-positive, spore-forming enteric anaerobe which can infect humans and a wide variety of animal species. Recently, the incidence and severity of human C. difficile infection has markedly increased. In this study, we evaluated the genomic content of 73 C. difficile strains isolated from humans, horses, cattle, and pigs by comparative genomic hybridization with microarrays containing coding sequences from C. difficile strains 630 and QCD-32g58. The sequenced genome of C. difficile strain 630 was used as a reference to define a candidate core genome of C. difficile and to explore correlations between host origins and genetic diversity. Approximately 16% of the genes in strain 630 were highly conserved among all strains, representing the core complement of functional genes defining C. difficile. Absent or divergent genes in the tested strains were distributed across the entire C. difficile 630 genome and across all the predicted functional categories. Interestingly, certain genes were conserved among strains from a specific host species, but divergent in isolates with other host origins. This information provides insight into the genomic changes which might contribute to host adaptation. Due to a high degree of divergence among C. difficile strains, a core gene list from this study offers the first step toward the construction of diagnostic arrays for C. difficile.investigated by determining changes in transcript profiles when aerobic steady-state cultures were depleted of air.
Project description:Clostridium difficile is a gram-positive, spore-forming enteric anaerobe which can infect humans and a wide variety of animal species. Recently, the incidence and severity of human C. difficile infection has markedly increased. In this study, we evaluated the genomic content of 73 C. difficile strains isolated from humans, horses, cattle, and pigs by comparative genomic hybridization with microarrays containing coding sequences from C. difficile strains 630 and QCD-32g58. The sequenced genome of C. difficile strain 630 was used as a reference to define a candidate core genome of C. difficile and to explore correlations between host origins and genetic diversity. Approximately 16% of the genes in strain 630 were highly conserved among all strains, representing the core complement of functional genes defining C. difficile. Absent or divergent genes in the tested strains were distributed across the entire C. difficile 630 genome and across all the predicted functional categories. Interestingly, certain genes were conserved among strains from a specific host species, but divergent in isolates with other host origins. This information provides insight into the genomic changes which might contribute to host adaptation. Due to a high degree of divergence among C. difficile strains, a core gene list from this study offers the first step toward the construction of diagnostic arrays for C. difficile.
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:The possibility of establishing a Clostridium-based biorefinery is an attractive and viable alternative, due to the wide metabolic versatility of these microorganisms. The Bioprocesses and Bioprospecting group of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia has obtained the genome of Clostridium sp. IBUN13A, which has shown the ability to produce solvents from various substrates and postulated the need to expand the knowledge of the physiology of the bacteria, so, this study establishes the differences in the transcriptomic profile of the strain when it is cultivated in glycerol respect to glucose after 24 hours of fermentation. For this, a RNA-seq study was carried out, and some of the genes that increased its expression on glycerol were related to the oxidative route of its consumption. The enrichment analysis of Gene Ontology terms showed that the biological phenomena with the highest representation within the differentially expressed genes correspond to oxidation-reduction processes. This first approach to the global transcriptomic study of glycerol fermentation allows the understanding of the metabolism of the microorganism with the purpose of choosing targets for genetic modification.
Project description:Microbes able to convert gaseous one-carbon (C1) waste feedstocks are increasingly important to transition to the sustainable production of renewable chemicals and fuels. Acetogens are interesting biocatalysts since gas fermentation using Clostridium autoethanogenum has been commercialised. However, most acetogen strains need complex nutrients, display slow growth, and are not robust for bioreactor fermentations. In this work, we used three different and independent adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) strategies to evolve the wild-type C. autoethanogenum to grow faster, without yeast extract and to be robust in operating continuous bioreactor cultures. Multiple evolved strains with improved phenotypes were isolated on minimal media with one strain, named “LAbrini”, exhibiting superior performance regarding the maximum specific growth rate, product profile, and robustness in continuous cultures. Whole-genome sequencing of the evolved strains identified 25 mutations. Of particular interest are two genes that acquired seven different mutations across the three ALE strategies, potentially as a result of convergent evolution. Reverse genetic engineering of mutations in potentially sporulation-related genes CLAU_3129 (spo0A) and CLAU_1957 recovered all three superior features of our ALE strains through triggering significant proteomic rearrangements. This work provides a robust C. autoethanogenum strain “LAbrini” to accelerate phenotyping and genetic engineering and to better understand acetogen metabolism.