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Enhanced production of acetoin and butanediol in recombinant Enterobacter aerogenes carrying Vitreoscilla hemoglobin gene

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Abstract

Microbial production of butanediol and acetoin has received increasing interest because of their diverse potential practical uses. Although both products are fermentative in nature, their optimal production requires a low level of oxygen. In this study, the use of a recombinant oxygen uptake system on production of these metabolites was investigated. Enterobacter aerogenes was transformed with a pUC8-based plasmid carrying the gene (vgb) encoding Vitreoscilla (bacterial) hemoglobin (VHb). The presence of vgb and production of VHb by this strain resulted in an increase in viability from 72 to 96 h in culture, but no overall increase in cell mass. Accumulation of the fermentation products acetoin and butanediol were enhanced (up to 83%) by the presence of vgb/VHb. This vgb/VHb related effect appears to be due to an increase of flux through the acetoin/butanediol pathway, but not at the expense of acid production.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by NSF grant number BES-9309759 and a postdoctoral fellowship from the Council for Higher Education of Israel to H.G. at Ben Gurion University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Inonu University, Malatya, 44069, Turkey

    Hikmet Geckil & Sebnem O. Erenler

  2. Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

    Ze’ev Barak & David M. Chipman

  3. Biology Division, Department of Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, USA

    Dale A. Webster & Benjamin C. Stark

Authors
  1. Hikmet Geckil
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  2. Ze’ev Barak
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  3. David M. Chipman
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  4. Sebnem O. Erenler
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  5. Dale A. Webster
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  6. Benjamin C. Stark
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Correspondence to Hikmet Geckil.

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Geckil, H., Barak, Z., Chipman, D.M. et al. Enhanced production of acetoin and butanediol in recombinant Enterobacter aerogenes carrying Vitreoscilla hemoglobin gene. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 26, 325–330 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-004-0373-1

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