Expanding the product portfolio of carbon dioxide and hydrogen-based gas fermentation with an evolved strain of Clostridium carboxidivorans

Abstract

CO₂:H₂-based gas fermentation with acetogenic Clostridium species are at an early stage of development. This work exploited the Adaptive Laboratory Evolution technique to improve the growth of C. carboxidivorans P7 on CO₂ and H₂. An adapted strain with decreased growth lag phase and improved biomass production was obtained. Genomic analysis revealed a conserved frameshift mutation in the catalytic subunit of the hexameric hydrogenase gene. The resulted truncated protein variant, most likely lacking its functionality, suggests that other hydrogenases might be more efficient for H₂-based growth of this strain. Furthermore, the adapted strain generated hexanol as primary fermentation product. For the first time, hexanol was produced directly from CO₂:H₂ blend, achieving the highest maximum productivity reported so far via gas fermentation. Traces of valerate, pentanol, eptanol and octanol were observed in the fermentation broth. The adapted strain shows promising to enrich the product spectrum targetable by future gas fermentation processes.

Keywords: Adaptive Laboratory Evolution; Bio-hexanol; CO(2):H(2)-based gas fermentation; Clostridium carboxidivorans; Odd-number carboxylates and alcohols.