Metabolic Engineering of Bacillus subtilis for Ethanol Production: Lactate Dehydrogenase Plays a Key Role in Fermentative Metabolism

• Published in: Applied and Environmental Microbiology Vol. 73; no. 16; pp. 5190 - 5198
• Main Authors: Romero, Susana, Merino, Enrique, Bolívar, Francisco, Gosset, Guillermo, Martinez, Alfredo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for Microbiology 01-08-2007
• Subjects: Bacillus subtilis; Bacillus subtilis - enzymology; Bacillus subtilis - genetics; Bacillus subtilis - metabolism; Bacteria; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Bacterial Proteins - physiology; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Butylene Glycols - metabolism; Escherichia coli; Ethanol; Ethanol - metabolism; Fermentation; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Deletion; Genes, Bacterial; Genetic Vectors - genetics; Glucose; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase - genetics; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase - metabolism; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase - physiology; Lactic Acid - metabolism; Metabolism; Microbiology; Models, Biological; Models, Genetic; NAD - metabolism; NADP - metabolism; Physiology and Biotechnology; Pyruvic Acid - metabolism; Zymomonas mobilis; Bacillales; Ethanol; Enzyme; Bacillus subtilis; Production; Bacteria; Metabolic engineering; Oxidoreductases; Bacillaceae; Fermentation; Metabolism; L-Lactate dehydrogenase
• ISSN: 0099-2240; 1098-5336
• DOI: 10.1128/AEM.00625-07

Wild-type Bacillus subtilis ferments 20 g/liter glucose in 48 h, producing lactate and butanediol, but not ethanol or acetate. To construct an ethanologenic B. subtilis strain, homologous recombination was used to disrupt the native lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) gene (ldh) by chromosomal insertion of the Zymomonas mobilis pyruvate decarboxylase gene (pdc) and alcohol dehydrogenase II gene (adhB) under the control of the ldh native promoter. The values of the intracellular PDC and ADHII enzymatic activities of the engineered B. subtilis BS35 strain were similar to those found in an ethanologenic Escherichia coli strain. BS35 produced ethanol and butanediol; however, the cell growth and glucose consumption rates were reduced by 70 and 65%, respectively, in comparison to those in the progenitor strain. To eliminate butanediol production, the acetolactate synthase gene (alsS) was inactivated. In the BS36 strain (BS35 ΔalsS), ethanol production was enhanced, with a high yield (89% of the theoretical); however, the cell growth and glucose consumption rates remained low. Interestingly, kinetic characterization of LDH from B. subtilis showed that it is able to oxidize NADH and NADPH. The expression of the transhydrogenase encoded by udhA from E. coli allowed a partial recovery of the cell growth rate and an early onset of ethanol production. Beyond pyruvate-to-lactate conversion and NADH oxidation, an additional key physiological role of LDH for glucose consumption under fermentative conditions is suggested. Long-term cultivation showed that 8.9 g/liter of ethanol can be obtained using strain BS37 (BS35 ΔalsS udhA⁺). As far as we know, this is the highest ethanol titer and yield reported with a B. subtilis strain.