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Controlling the oxidoreduction potential of the culture of Clostridium acetobutylicum leads to an earlier initiation of solventogenesis, thus increasing solvent productivity

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Abstract

Fermentative production of solvents (acetone, butanol, and ethanol) by Clostridium acetobutylicum is generally a biphasic process consisting of acidogenesis and solventogenesis. We report that the biphasic metabolism of C. acetobutylicum could be changed by oxidoreduction potential (ORP) regulation. When using air to control the ORP of the fermentation broth at −290 mV, an earlier initiation of solventogenesis was achieved. Solvent production reached 25.6 g l−1 (2.8 g acetone l−1, 16.8 g butanol l−1, 6.0 g ethanol l−1), a 35% increase compared with the ORP uncontrolled process. Metabolic flux analysis revealed that there was a general increase of the central carbon flux in the first 24 h of fermentation when ORP was controlled at −290 mV, compared with the control. Specifically, the solvent ratio (acetone:butanol:ethanol) was changed from 25:64:11 to 11:66:23 at ORP level of −290 mV, which might have resulted from the rigidity at acetyl-CoA node and the flexibility at acetoacetyl-CoA and butyryl-CoA nodes in response to ORP regulation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. 2011AA02A208), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 30900012), and the Scientific Equipment R&D Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. YZ200941). Yin Li is supported by the Hundreds Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1 West Beichen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China

    Shaohua Wang, Yan Zhu, Yanping Zhang & Yin Li

  2. Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Shaohua Wang & Yan Zhu

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  1. Shaohua Wang
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  2. Yan Zhu
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  3. Yanping Zhang
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  4. Yin Li
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Correspondence to Yanping Zhang or Yin Li.

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Wang, S., Zhu, Y., Zhang, Y. et al. Controlling the oxidoreduction potential of the culture of Clostridium acetobutylicum leads to an earlier initiation of solventogenesis, thus increasing solvent productivity. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 93, 1021–1030 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3570-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3570-2

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