Expression of the Klebsiella pneumoniae CG21 acetoin reductase gene in Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824

Acetoin reductase catalyzes the production of 2,3-butanediol from acetoin. The gene encoding the acetoin reductase of Klebsiella pneumoniae CG21 was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli and Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824. The nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding the enzyme was determined to be 768 bp long. Expression of the K. pneumoniae acetoin reductase gene in E. coli revealed that the enzyme has a molecular mass of about 31,000 Da based on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis. The K. pneumoniae acetoin reductase gene was cloned into a clostridial/E. coli shuttle vector, and expression of the gene resulted in detectable levels of acetoin reductase activity in both E. coli and C. acetobutylicum. While acetoin, the natural substrate of acetoin reductase, is a typical product of fermentation by C. acetobutylicum, 2,3-butanediol is not. Analysis of culture supernatants by gas chromatography revealed that introduction of the K. pneumoniae acetoin reductase gene into C. acetobutylicum was not sufficient for 2,3-butanediol production even though the cultures were producing acetoin. 2,3-Butanediol was produced by cultures of C. acetobutylicum containing the gene only when commercial acetoin was added. Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology (2001) 27, 220–227. Received 12 September 2000/ Accepted in revised form 26 June 2001     

Effects of corn steep liquor on production of 2,3-butanediol and acetoin by Bacillus subtilis

The initial concentration of corn steep liquor (CSL) have remarkable effects on not only 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BD) and acetoin (metabolic precursor) production, but also on the ratio of 2,3-BD to acetoin. When a high concentration of CSL was supplemented, cell growth was improved, acetoin reductase (ACR) was stimulated, the concentration of 2,3-BD increased by 78.6%, acetoin decreased by 61.9%, and the ratio of 2,3-BD to acetoin increased by 3.69-fold. The acr gene, encoding ACR, was over-expressed in Bacillus subtilis. Compared to the control (parent strain), low levels of CSL in the engineered strain increased 2,3-BD concentration and the ratio 2,3-BD to acetoin by 13.9% and 39.5%, respectively, and decreased acetoin titer by 18.3%. Acetoin became a major product under low levels of CSL. Also, a knockout strain carrying an acr::cat insertion mutation was constructed. As expected, the loss of ACR activity led to an accumulation of acetoin in the supernatants of acr:: cat mutant cultures. Additionally, the productivity of acetoin was improved by high concentration of CSL. The results above demonstrate the feasibility of using B. subtilis for the production of not only 2,3-BD but also acetoin as a major product.     

Enhanced production of 2,3-butanediol by engineered <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus subtilis</Emphasis>

Production of 2,3-butanediol by Bacillus subtilis takes place in late-log or stationary phase, depending on the expression of bdhA gene encoding acetoin reductase, which converts acetoin to 2,3-butanediol. The present work focuses on the development of a strain of B. subtilis for enhanced production of 2,3-butanediol in early log phase of growth cycle. For this, the bdhA gene was expressed under the control of P _alsSD promoter of AlsSD operon for acetoin fermentation which served the substrate for 2,3-butanediol production. Addition of acetic acid in the medium induced the production of 2,3-butanediol by 2-fold. Two-step aerobic–anaerobic fermentation further enhanced 2,3-butanediol production by 4-fold in comparison to the control parental strain. Thus, addition of acetic acid and low dissolved oxygen in the medium are involved in activation of bdhA gene expression from P _alsSD promoter in early log phase. Under the conditions tested in this work, the maximum production of 2,3-butanediol, 2.1 g/l from 10 g/l glucose, was obtained at 24 h. Furthermore, under the optimized microaerophilic condition, the production of 2,3-butanediol improved up to 6.1 g/l and overall productivity increased by 6.7-fold to 0.4 g/l h in the engineered strain compared to that in the parental control.     

Strategies for enhancing fermentative production of acetoin: A review

Acetoin is a volatile compound widely used in foods, cigarettes, cosmetics, detergents, chemical synthesis, plant growth promoters and biological pest controls. It works largely as flavour and fragrance. Since some bacteria were found to be capable of vigorous acetoin biosynthesis from versatile renewable biomass, acetoin, like its reduced form 2,3-butanediol, was also classified as a promising bio-based platform chemical. In spite of several reviews on the biological production of 2,3-butanediol, little has concentrated on acetoin. The two analogous compounds are present in the same acetoin (or 2,3-butanediol) pathway, but their production processes including optimal strains, substrates, derivatives, process controls and product recovery methods are quite different. In this review, the usages of acetoin are reviewed firstly to demonstrate its importance. The biosynthesis pathway and molecular regulation mechanisms are then outlined to depict the principal network of functioning in typical species. A phylogenetic tree is constructed and the relationship between taxonomy and acetoin producing ability is revealed for the first time, which will serve as a useful guide for the screening of competitive acetoin producers. Genetic engineering, medium optimization, and process control are effective strategies to improve productivity as well. Currently, downstream processing is one of the main barriers in efficient and economical industrial acetoin fermentation. The future prospects of microbial acetoin production are discussed in light of the current progress, challenges, and trends in this field.     

Engineered <Emphasis Type="Italic">E. coli</Emphasis> W enables efficient 2,3-butanediol production from glucose and sugar beet molasses using defined minimal medium as economic basis

Background

Efficient microbial production of chemicals is often hindered by the cytotoxicity of the products or by the pathogenicity of the host strains. Hence 2,3-butanediol, an important drop-in chemical, is an interesting alternative target molecule for microbial synthesis since it is non-cytotoxic. Metabolic engineering of non-pathogenic and industrially relevant microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli, have already yielded in promising 2,3-butanediol titers showing the potential of microbial synthesis of 2,3-butanediol. However, current microbial 2,3-butanediol production processes often rely on yeast extract as expensive additive, rendering these processes infeasible for industrial production.

Results

The aim of this study was to develop an efficient 2,3-butanediol production process with E. coli operating on the premise of using cost-effective medium without complex supplements, considering second generation feedstocks. Different gene donors and promoter fine-tuning allowed for construction of a potent E. coli strain for the production of 2,3-butanediol as important drop-in chemical. Pulsed fed-batch cultivations of E. coli W using microaerobic conditions showed high diol productivity of 4.5 g l^?1 h^?1. Optimizing oxygen supply and elimination of acetoin and by-product formation improved the 2,3-butanediol titer to 68 g l^?1, 76% of the theoretical maximum yield, however, at the expense of productivity. Sugar beet molasses was tested as a potential substrate for industrial production of chemicals. Pulsed fed-batch cultivations produced 56 g l^?1 2,3-butanediol, underlining the great potential of E. coli W as production organism for high value-added chemicals.

Conclusion

A potent 2,3-butanediol producing E. coli strain was generated by considering promoter fine-tuning to balance cell fitness and production capacity. For the first time, 2,3-butanediol production was achieved with promising titer, rate and yield and no acetoin formation from glucose in pulsed fed-batch cultivations using chemically defined medium without complex hydrolysates. Furthermore, versatility of E. coli W as production host was demonstrated by efficiently converting sucrose from sugar beet molasses into 2,3-butanediol.

     

Determination of 2,3-butanediol in high and low acetoin producers of Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine yeasts by automated multiple development (AMD)

P. ROMANO, G. SUZZI, V. BRANDOLINI, E. MENZIANI AND P. DOMIZIO. 1996. High performance thin layer chromatography with automated multiple development was used to determine 2,3-butanediol levels in wine produced by high and low acetoin-forming strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae . An inverse correlation between acetoin and 2,3-butanediol content was found suggesting a leaky mutation in acetoin reductase of the low 2,3-butanediol producing strains.     

A shortened,two-enzyme pathway for 2,3-butanediol production in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>

The platform chemical 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) is produced by a number of microorganisms via a three-enzyme pathway starting from pyruvate. Here, we report production of 2,3-BDO via a shortened, two-enzyme pathway in Escherichia coli. A synthetic operon consisting of the acetolactate synthase (ALS) and acetoin reductase (AR) genes from Enterobacter under control of the T7 promoter was cloned in an episomal plasmid. E. coli transformed with this plasmid produced 2,3-BDO and the pathway intermediate acetoin, demonstrating that the shortened pathway was functional. To assemble a synthetic operon for inducer- and plasmid-free production of 2,3-BDO, ALS and AR genes were integrated in the E. coli genome under control of the constitutive ackA promoter. Shake flask-level cultivation led to accumulation of ~1 g/L acetoin and ~0.66 g/L 2,3-BDO in the medium. The novel biosynthetic route for 2,3-BDO biosynthesis described herein provides a simple and cost-effective approach for production of this important chemical.     

Cloning of the Alcaligenes eutrophus alcohol dehydrogenase gene

Mutants of Alcaligenes eutrophus which are altered with respect to the utilization of 2,3-butanediol and acetoin were isolated after transposon mutagenesis. The suicide vehicle pSUP5011 was used to introduce the drug resistance transposable element Tn5 into A. eutrophus. Kanamycin-resistant transconjugants of the 2,3-butanediol-utilizing parent strains CF10141 and AS141 were screened for mutants impaired in the utilization of 2,3-butanediol or acetoin. Eleven mutants were negative for 2,3-butanediol but positive for acetoin; they were unable to synthesize active fermentative alcohol dehydrogenase protein (class 1). Forty mutants were negative for 2,3-butanediol and for acetoin (class 2). Tn5-mob was also introduced into a Smr derivative of the 2,3-butanediol-nonutilizing parent strain H16. Of about 35,000 transconjugants, 2 were able to grow on 2,3-butanediol. Both mutants synthesized the fermentative alcohol dehydrogenase constitutively (class 3). The Tn5-labeled EcoRI fragments of genomic DNA of four class 1 and two class 3 mutants were cloned from a cosmid library. They were biotinylated and used as probes for the detection of the corresponding wild-type fragments in a lambda L47 and a cosmid gene bank. The gene which encodes the fermentative alcohol dehydrogenase in A. eutrophus was cloned and localized to a 2.5-kilobase (kb) SalI fragment which is located within a 11.5-kb EcoRI-fragment. The gene was heterologously expressed in A. eutrophus JMP222 and in Pseudomonas oxalaticus. The insertion of Tn5-mob in class 3 mutants mapped near the structural gene for alcohol dehydrogenase on the same 2.5-kb SalI fragment.     

Effect of deletion of 2,3-butanediol dehydrogenase gene (bdhA) on acetoin production of Bacillus subtilis

The present work aims to block 2,3-butanediol synthesis in acetoin fermentation of Bacillus subtilis. First, we constructed a recombinant strain BS168D by deleting the 2,3-butanediol dehydrogenase gene bdhA of the B. subtilis168, and there was almost no 2,3-butanediol production in 20?g/L of glucose media. The acetoin yield of BS168D reached 6.61?g/L, which was about 1.5 times higher than that of the control B. subtilis168 (4.47?g/L). Then, when the glucose concentration was increased to 100?g/L, the acetoin yield reached 24.6?g/L, but 2.4?g/L of 2,3-butanediol was detected at the end of fermentation. The analysis of 2,3-butanediol chiral structure indicated that the main 2,3-butanediol production of BS168D was meso-2,3-butanediol, and the bdhA gene was only responsible for (2R,3R)-2,3-butanediol synthesis. Therefore, we speculated that there may exit another pathway relating to the meso-2,3-butanediol synthesis in the B. subtilis. In addition, the results of low oxygen condition fermentation showed that deletion of bdhA gene successfully blocked the reversible transformation between acetoin and 2,3-butanediol and eliminated the effect of dissolved oxygen on the transformation.     

Physiological and biochemical role of the butanediol pathway in Aerobacter (Enterobacter) aerogenes.

Aerobacter (Enterobacter) aerogenes wild type and three mutants deficient in the formation of acetoin and 2,3-butanediol were grown in a glucose minimal medium. Culture densities, pH, and diacetyl, acetoin, and 2,3-butanediol levels were recorded. The pH in wild-type cultures dropped from 7.0 to 5.8, remained constant while acetoin and 2,3-butanediol were formed, and increased to pH 6.5 after exhaustion of the carbon source. More 2,3-butanediol than acetoin was formed initially, but after glucose exhaustion reoxidation to acetoin occurred. The three mutants differed from the wild type in yielding acid cultures (pH below 4.5). The wild type and one of the mutants were grown exponentially under aerobic and anaerobic conditions with the pH fixed at 7.0, 5.8, and 5.0, respectively. Growth rates decreased with decreasing pH values. Aerobically, this effect was weak, and the two strains were affected to the same degree. Under anaerobic conditions, the growth rates were markedly inhibited at a low pH, and the mutant was slightly more affected than the wild type. Levels of alcohol dehydrogenase were low under all conditions, indicating that the enzyme plays no role during exponential growth. The levels of diacetyl (acetoin) reductase, lactate dehydrogenase, and phosphotransacetylase were independent of the pH during aerobic growth of the two strains. Under anaerobic conditions, the formation of diacetyl (acetoin) reductase was pH dependent, with much higher levels of the enzyme at pH 5.0 than at pH 7.0. Lactate dehydrogenase and phosphotransacetylase revealed the same pattern of pH-dependent formation in the mutant, but not in the wild type.     

Metabolic engineering of Serratia marcescens with the bacterial hemoglobin gene: alterations in fermentation pathways

Serratia marcescens was transformed with plasmid vector pUC8 or pUC8 containing the bacterial (Vitreoscilla) hemoglobin gene (vgb) on either a 2.3-kb fragment (pUC8:15) or 1.4-kb fragment (pUC8:16) of Vitreoscilla DNA. The vgb-bearing strains were compared with the pUC8 transformant and untransformed S. marcescens with respect to growth in Luria-Bertani (LB) broth supplemented with glucose or casein acid hydrolysate. Growth (on a viable cell basis) was similar to that in unsupplemented LB. Total acid excretion (as estimated by medium pH) was similar for all strains in both LB plus 2% casein acid hydrolysate and LB without additions. Acid excretion in LB plus 2% glucose was somewhat greater at up to 10 h in culture for the two vgb-bearing strains; from 10 to 26 h in culture, the pHs of these cultures continued to decrease (to 4.1-4.2), whereas those of the non-vgb-bearing strains returned to near the starting pH (7.4-7.8). Concomitantly, after 26 h of culture in LB plus 2% glucose, the non-vgb-bearing strains had produced about 15 times as much acetoin and about three to four times as much 2,3-butanediol as the vgb-bearing strains. In general, for all strains, much more acetoin and 2,3-butanediol were produced in LB plus 2% glucose than in unsupplemented LB. The exception was acetoin production by the strain bearing vgb on plasmid pUC8:15; after 26 h of culture in LB without supplementation it was between three and four times that of the other strains, and about 50% higher than its level in LB plus 2% glucose. When grown with the 2% casein acid hydrolysate supplement, the strain bearing vgb on plasmid pUC8:15 produced much more acetoin and 2,3-butanediol than the other strains after 26 hours in culture. The results confirm that vgb can significantly alter carbon metabolism and suggest that the use of vgb technology for directed metabolic engineering may be a complicated process, depending in part on medium composition.     

Thermophilic fermentation of acetoin and 2,3-butanediol by a novel <Emphasis Type="Italic">Geobacillus</Emphasis> strain

Background

Acetoin and 2,3-butanediol are two important biorefinery platform chemicals. They are currently fermented below 40°C using mesophilic strains, but the processes often suffer from bacterial contamination.

Results

This work reports the isolation and identification of a novel aerobic Geobacillus strain XT15 capable of producing both of these chemicals under elevated temperatures, thus reducing the risk of bacterial contamination. The optimum growth temperature was found to be between 45 and 55°C and the medium initial pH to be 8.0. In addition to glucose, galactose, mannitol, arabionose, and xylose were all acceptable substrates, enabling the potential use of cellulosic biomass as the feedstock. XT15 preferred organic nitrogen sources including corn steep liquor powder, a cheap by-product from corn wet-milling. At 55°C, 7.7?g/L of acetoin and 14.5?g/L of 2,3-butanediol could be obtained using corn steep liquor powder as a nitrogen source. Thirteen volatile products from the cultivation broth of XT15 were identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Acetoin, 2,3-butanediol, and their derivatives including a novel metabolite 2,3-dihydroxy-3-methylheptan-4-one, accounted for a total of about 96% of all the volatile products. In contrast, organic acids and other products were minor by-products. α-Acetolactate decarboxylase and acetoin:2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol oxidoreductase in XT15, the two key enzymes in acetoin metabolic pathway, were found to be both moderately thermophilic with the identical optimum temperature of 45°C.

Conclusions

Geobacillus sp. XT15 is the first naturally occurring thermophile excreting acetoin and/or 2,3-butanediol. This work has demonstrated the attractive prospect of developing it as an industrial strain in the thermophilic fermentation of acetoin and 2,3-butanediol with improved anti-contamination performance. The novel metabolites and enzymes identified in XT15 also indicated its strong promise as a precious biological resource. Thermophilic fermentation also offers great prospect for improving its yields and efficiencies. This remains a core aim for future work.

     

Heterologous production, assembly, and secretion of a minicellulosome by Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824

The gene man5K encoding the mannanase Man5K from Clostridium cellulolyticum was cloned alone or as an operon with the gene cipC1 encoding a truncated scaffoldin (miniCipC1) of the same origin in the solventogenic Clostridium acetobutylicum. The expression of the heterologous gene(s) was under the control of a weakened thiolase promoter Pthl. The recombinant strains of the solventogenic bacterium were both found to secrete active Man5K in the range of milligrams per liter. In the case of the strain expressing only man5K, a large fraction of the recombinant enzyme was truncated and lost the N-terminal dockerin domain, but it remained active towards galactomannan. When man5K was coexpressed with cipC1 in C. acetobutylicum, the recombinant strain secreted almost exclusively full-length mannanase, which bound to the scaffoldin miniCipC1, thus showing that complexation to the scaffoldin stabilized the enzyme. The secreted heterologous complex was found to be functional: it binds to crystalline cellulose via the carbohydrate binding module of the miniscaffoldin, and the complexed mannanase is active towards galactomannan. Taken together, these data show that C. acetobutylicum is a suitable host for the production, assembly, and secretion of heterologous minicellulosomes.     

The Bacillus subtilis ydjL (bdhA) Gene Encodes Acetoin Reductase/2,3-Butanediol Dehydrogenase

Bacillus subtilis is capable of producing 2,3-butanediol from acetoin by fermentation, but to date, the gene encoding the enzyme responsible, acetoin reductase/2,3-butanediol dehydrogenase (AR/BDH), has remained unknown. A search of the B. subtilis genome database with the amino acid sequences of functional AR/BDHs from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Bacillus cereus resulted in the identification of a highly similar protein encoded by the B. subtilis ydjL gene. A knockout strain carrying a ydjL::cat insertion mutation was constructed, which (i) abolished 2,3-butanediol production in early stationary phase, (ii) produced no detectable AR or BDH activity in vitro, and (iii) accumulated the precursor acetoin in early stationary phase. The ydjL::cat mutation also affected the kinetics of lactate but not acetate production during stationary-phase cultivation with glucose under oxygen limitation. A very small amount of 2,3-butanediol was detected in very-late-stationary-phase (96-hour) cultures of the ydjL::cat mutant, suggesting the existence of a second gene encoding a minor AR activity. From the data, it is proposed that the major AR/BDH-encoding gene ydjL be renamed bdhA.     

Role of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Oxidoreductases Bdh1p and Ara1p in the Metabolism of Acetoin and 2,3-Butanediol

NAD-dependent butanediol dehydrogenase (Bdh1p) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae reversibly transforms acetoin to 2,3-butanediol in a stereospecific manner. Deletion of BDH1 resulted in an accumulation of acetoin and a diminution of 2,3-butanediol in two S. cerevisiae strains under two different growth conditions. The concentrations of (2R,3R)-2,3-butanediol are mostly dependent on Bdh1p activity, while those of (meso)-2,3-butanediol are also influenced by the activity of NADP(H)-dependent oxidoreductases. One of them has been purified and shown to be d-arabinose dehydrogenase (Ara1p), which converts (R/S)-acetoin to meso-2,3-butanediol and (2S,3S)-2,3-butanediol. Deletion of BDH2, a gene adjacent to BDH1, whose encoded protein is 51% identical to Bdh1p, does not significantly alter the levels of acetoin or 2,3-butanediol in comparison to the wild-type strain. Furthermore, we have expressed Bdh2p with a histidine tag and have shown it to be inactive toward 2,3-butanediol. A whole-genome expression analysis with microarrays demonstrates that BDH1 and BDH2 are reciprocally regulated.Acetoin and 2,3-butanediol are minor products generated by Saccharomyces cerevisiae during alcohol fermentation. Their sensory impacts on wine are poorly documented. Acetoin may affect the wine bouquet, although its perception threshold in wine is relatively high, around 150 mg/liter (21, 31). On the other hand, 2,3-butanediol is odorless (33) and cannot be expected to appreciably affect the sensory quality of wine. However, the compound may contribute to the wine body (28).Acetaldehyde, pyruvate, and α-acetolactate are the main precursors of acetoin in S. cerevisiae. Acetoin can be formed from acetaldehyde and/or pyruvate through an anomalous reaction of pyruvate decarboxylase. Thus, although its main activity is to irreversibly decarboxylate pyruvate to acetaldehyde, it can also catalyze carbon-carbon bond formation, yielding acetoin from pyruvate and/or acetaldehyde (2, 4). In addition, α-acetolactate would produce acetoin through its nonenzymatic decarboxylation to diacetyl and subsequent reduction to acetoin through the action of several NADH- and NADPH-dependent oxidoreductases (12). However, the situation is more complex in wine fermentation, where other yeasts and bacteria display supplementary enzymatic activities capable of producing both acetoin and 2,3-butanediol (1, 27).We have previously characterized a butanediol dehydrogenase (Bdh1p) as a medium-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (MDR) that can reversibly transform R-acetoin and S-acetoin to (2R,3R)-2,3-butanediol and meso-2,3-butanediol, respectively, in a NAD(H)-dependent reaction (10). BDH2 is a gene adjacent to BDH1 whose uncharacterized protein product (Bdh2p) shares 51% sequence identity with Bdh1p. To evaluate the in vivo roles of Bdh1p and Bdh2p, we compared the levels of several extracellular metabolites in cultures of wild-type and deficient strains. The results show that, although Bdh1p is the main enzyme in 2,3-butanediol production [essentially the (2R,3R)-2,3-butanediol stereoisomer], some meso-2,3-butanediol is still produced by the bdh1Δ strains. We have characterized Ara1p as an oxidoreductase that can reduce racemic acetoin to meso-2,3-butanediol and (2S,3S)-2,3-butanediol in the presence of NADPH.Furthermore, we have overexpressed Bdh2p with a histidine tag at its carboxyl terminus and have shown it to be inactive toward acetoin and 2,3-butanediol. A microarray study indicated that BDH1 and BDH2 are reciprocally regulated under the conditions studied.     

Properties of 2,3-Butanediol Dehydrogenases from Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis in Relation to Citrate Fermentation

Two 2,3-butanediol dehydrogenases (enzymes 1 and 2; molecular weight of each, 170,000) have been partially purified from Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis (Streptococcus diacetylactis) D10 and shown to have reductase activity with either diacetyl or acetoin as the substrate. However, the reductase activity with 10 mM diacetyl was far greater for both enzymes (7.0- and 4.7-fold for enzymes 1 and 2, respectively) than with 10 mM acetoin as the substrate. In contrast, when acetoin and diacetyl were present together, acetoin was the preferred substrate for both enzymes, with enzyme 1 showing the more marked preference for acetoin. meso-2,3-Butanediol was the only isomeric product, with enzyme 1 independent of the substrate combinations. For enzyme 2, both the meso and optical isomers of 2,3-butanediol were formed with acetoin as the substrate, but only the optical isomers were produced with diacetyl as the substrate. With batch cultures of strain D10 at or near the point of citrate exhaustion, the main isomers of 2,3-butanediol present were the optical forms. If the pH was sufficiently high (>pH 5), acetoin reduction occurred over time and was followed by diacetyl reduction, and meso-2,3-butanediol became the predominant isomer. Interconversion of the optical isomers into the meso isomer did occur. The properties of 2,3-butanediol dehydrogenases are consistent with diacetyl and acetoin removal and the appearance of the isomers of 2,3-butanediol.     

The rebalanced pathway significantly enhances acetoin production by disruption of acetoin reductase gene and moderate-expression of a new water-forming NADH oxidase in Bacillus subtilis

Bacillus subtilis produces acetoin as a major extracellular product. However, the by-products of 2,3-butanediol, lactic acid and ethanol were accompanied in the NADH-dependent pathways. In this work, metabolic engineering strategies were proposed to redistribute the carbon flux to acetoin by manipulation the NADH levels. We first knocked out the acetoin reductase gene bdhA to block the main flux from acetoin to 2,3-butanediol. Then, among four putative candidates, we successfully screened an active water-forming NADH oxidase, YODC. Moderate-expression of YODC in the bdhA disrupted B. subtilis weakened the NADH-linked pathways to by-product pools of acetoin. Through these strategies, acetoin production was improved to 56.7 g/l with an increase of 35.3%, while the production of 2,3-butanediol, lactic acid and ethanol were decreased by 92.3%, 70.1% and 75.0%, respectively, simultaneously the fermentation duration was decreased 1.7-fold. Acetoin productivity by B. subtilis was improved to 0.639 g/(l h).     

The production of 2,3-butanediol as a differentiating character in wine yeasts

The capacity to produce 2,3-butanediol by 90 strains of four different species of wine yeasts (Kloeckera apiculata, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomycodes ludwigii, Zygosaccharomyces bailii) was tested in grape must by automated multiple development HPTLC. The total amount of 2,3-butanediol produced varied between 23mg l–1 and 857.7mg l–1 according to the yeast species. S. cerevisiae and Z. bailii behaved similarly, producing elevated amounts of 2,3-butanediol. K. apiculata and Sc. ludwigii, in contrast, were low producers. When considerable amounts of 2,3-butanediol were found, little acetoin was present; the amounts of butanediol and acetoin were characteristic of the individual species.     

Use of respiratory quotient as a control parameter for optimum oxygen supply and scale-up of 2,3-butanediol production under microaerobic conditions

The respiratory quotient (RQ) was found to be a suitable control parameter for optimum oxygen supply for the production of 2,3-butanediol + acetoin under microaerobic conditions. In laboratory scale continuous cultures optimum production of 2,3-butanediol + acetoin was obtained at an RQ value between 4.0 to 4.5. This agreed well with optimum RQ value (4.0) stoichiometrically derived from the bioreactions involved. In fed-batch cultures product concentrations as high as 102.9 g/L (96.0 g/L butanediol + 6.9 g/L acetoin) can be achieved within 32 h cultivation with an RQ control algorithm for oxygen supply. Under similar conditions only 85.7 g/L product (77.6 g/L butanediol + 8.1 g/L acetoin) was obtained with control of constant oxygen supply rate throughout the cultivation.In pilot scale batch cultures under identical oxygen supply rate the achievable RQ value was found to be strongly influenced by the reactor type and scale. The initial oxygen supply rate influenced the achievable RQ as well. However, in all the reactors studied the specific product formation rate of cells in the exponential growth phase was only a function of RQ. The same optimum RQ value as found in continuous cultures was obtained. It was thus concluded that RQ can be used as a control parameter for optimum production of 2,3-butanediol + acetoin in both laboratory and pilot plant scale reactors. (c) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Metabolic engineering strategies for acetoin and 2,3-butanediol production: advances and prospects

Acetoin and 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BD) have a large number of industrial applications. The production of acetoin and 2,3-BD has traditionally relied on oil supplies. Microbial production of acetoin and 2,3-BD will alleviate the dependence on oil. Acetoin and 2,3-BD are neighboring metabolites in the 2,3-BD metabolic pathway of bacteria. This review summarizes metabolic engineering strategies for improvement of microbial acetoin and 2,3-BD production. We also propose enhancements to current acetoin and 2,3-BD production strategies, by offering a metabolic engineering approach that is guided by systems biology and synthetic biology.