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Proteomic analyses of the phase transition from acidogenesis to solventogenesis using solventogenic and non-solventogenic Clostridium acetobutylicum strains

  • Genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics
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Abstract

The fermentation carried out by the solvent-producing bacterium, Clostridium acetobutylicum, is characterized by two distinct phases: acidogenic and solventogenic phases. Understanding the cellular physiological changes occurring during the phase transition in clostridial fermentation is important for the enhanced production of solvents. To identify protein changes upon entry to stationary phase where solvents are typically produced, we herein analyzed the proteomic profiles of the parental wild type C. acetobutylicum strains, ATCC 824, the non-solventogenic strain, M5 that has lost the solventogenic megaplasmid pSOL1, and the synthetic simplified alcohol forming strain, M5 (pIMP1E1AB) expressing plasmid-based CoA-transferase (CtfAB) and aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase (AdhE1). A total of 68 protein spots, corresponding to 56 unique proteins, were unambiguously identified as being differentially present after the phase transitions in the three C. acetobutylicum strains. In addition to changes in proteins known to be involved in solventogenesis (AdhE1 and CtfB), we identified significant alterations in enzymes involved in sugar transport and metabolism, fermentative pathway, heat shock proteins, translation, and amino acid biosynthesis upon entry into the stationary phase. Of these, four increased proteins (AdhE1, CAC0233, CtfB and phosphocarrier protein HPr) and six decreased proteins (butyrate kinase, ferredoxin:pyruvate oxidoreductase, phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase, adenylosuccinate synthase, pyruvate kinase and valyl-tRNA synthetase) showed similar patterns in the two strains capable of butanol formation. Interestingly, significant changes of several proteins by post-translational modifications were observed in the solventogenic phase. The proteomic data from this study will improve our understanding on how cell physiology is affected through protein levels patterns in clostridia.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2012-C1AAA001-2012M1A2A2026556) through the Technology Development Program to Solve Climate Changes of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) to S.Y. Lee; the Advanced Biomass R&D Center of Korea (2011-0028386) through the Global Frontier Research Program of the MEST to S.Y. Lee; and the Basic Science Research Program (2010-0008826) from the NRF to M.-J. Han. Further support from BioFuelChem and the KAIST EEWS program from the MEST is appreciated.

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We declare that we do not have conflict of interest.

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Correspondence to Sang Yup Lee.

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Y.-S. Jang and M.-J. Han contributed equally to this work.

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Jang, YS., Han, MJ., Lee, J. et al. Proteomic analyses of the phase transition from acidogenesis to solventogenesis using solventogenic and non-solventogenic Clostridium acetobutylicum strains. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98, 5105–5115 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-5738-z

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