Development of a Mutant Strain of Bacillus polymyxa Showing Enhanced Production of 2,3-Butanediol

2,3-Butanediol is a feedstock chemical of potential industrial importance. It can serve as a monomer for many polymers of consumer interest that are currently supplied by the fossil fuel industry. Bacillus polymyxa can grow on inexpensive waste products of the food-processing industry and produce this glycol. This paper describes a mutant strain of B. polymyxa which displays constitutive production of catabolic α-acetolactate synthase, an enzyme in the 2,3-butanediol pathway which is normally produced only in the late log or stationary phase of growth. The mutant was obtained by treating the wild type with nitrosoguanidine and subjecting it to a penicillin counterselection procedure. One of the selected mutant strains produced four times as much of the glycol as the wild type and utilized approximately 25% of the energy source, compared with essentially complete utilization of the energy source by the wild type. Studies are under way to optimize the production of the glycol by the mutant.