Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of California at Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
Biotechnol Adv. 2018 Jul-Aug;36(4):905-914. doi: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2018.02.012. Epub 2018 Feb 22.
Solventogenic clostridia, a group of important industrial microorganisms, have exceptional substrate and product diversity, capable of producing a series of two-carbon and even long-chain chemicals and fuels by using various substrates, including sugars, cellulose and hemicellulose, and C1 gases. For the sake of in-depth understanding and engineering these anaerobic microorganisms for broader applications, studies on metabolic regulation of solventogenic clostridia had been extensively carried out during the past ten years, based on the rapid development of various genetic tools. To date, a number of regulators that are essential for cell physiological and metabolic processes have been identified in clostridia, and the relevant mechanisms have also been dissected, providing a wealth of valuable information for metabolic engineering. Here, we reviewed the latest research progresses on the metabolic regulation for chemical production and substrate utilization in solventogenic clostridia, by focusing on three typical Clostridium species, the saccharolytic C. acetobutylicum and C. beijerinckii, as well as the gas-fermenting C. ljungdahlii. On this basis, future directions in the study and remodeling of clostridial regulation systems, were proposed for effective modification of these industrially important anaerobes.
产溶剂梭菌是一类重要的工业微生物，具有特殊的底物和产物多样性，能够利用各种底物（包括糖、纤维素和半纤维素以及 C1 气体）生产一系列二碳甚至长链化学品和燃料。为了更深入地了解和工程化这些厌氧微生物以实现更广泛的应用，在过去十年中，基于各种遗传工具的快速发展，对产溶剂梭菌的代谢调控进行了广泛的研究。迄今为止，已经在梭菌中鉴定出了许多对细胞生理和代谢过程至关重要的调节剂，并且相关机制也已经被剖析，为代谢工程提供了丰富的有价值信息。在这里，我们重点关注三种典型的梭菌，即产酸梭菌和丙酮丁醇梭菌以及产氢梭菌，综述了产溶剂梭菌在化学品生产和底物利用方面的代谢调控的最新研究进展。在此基础上，针对梭菌调控系统的研究和改造提出了未来的方向，旨在有效地修饰这些重要的工业厌氧微生物。
