Influence of amino acid supplements on the metabolism of Clostridium acetobutylicum

The effects of organic nitrogen on the metabolism of Clostridium acetobutylicum were investigated in batch fermentations. For this study, amino acids were added to a chemically defined medium in groups from the same biosynthetic pathways. In all cases the addition of amino acids shifted the solvent ratio to higher butanol production at the expense of that of acetone (except for the glutamic acid group) and ethanol (except for histidine). Highest biomass production was obtained from media containing aromatic amino acids and histidine (4.57 g · l⁻¹ and 5.4 g · l⁻¹, respectively). However, the solvent production (ca. 20 g · l⁻¹) and the solvent yield (ca. 33%) in both cases, were similar to those obtained from the synthetic medium. Lower values were obtained from fermentations carried out with other families of amino acids. The strongest inhibition of cell growth (1.13 g · l⁻¹) which related to the lowest solvent production (3.15 g · l⁻¹) was observed on a medium complemented with amino acids of the pyruvic acid group. During the second phase of fermentation, amino acids-complemented media caused a less efficient remetabolization of acetic and butyric acids. Highest production of acids was obtained with the aspartic acid group (7.4 g · l⁻¹). These observations suggest that amino acids can be used as a competitive nitrogen source and also modify the level of enzyme activities involved in acid and solvent production.