Effect of an Oxygen-Tolerant Bifurcating Butyryl Coenzyme A Dehydrogenase/Electron-Transferring Flavoprotein Complex from Clostridium difficile on Butyrate Production in Escherichia coli |
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Authors: | El-Hussiny Aboulnaga Olaf Pinkenburg Johannes Schiffels Ahmed El-Refai Wolfgang Buckel Thorsten Selmer |
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Institution: | Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Campus Juelich, Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Juelich, Germanya;Philipps University, Institute for Immunology, Biomedical Research Centre (BMFZ), Marburg, Germanyb;Mansoura University, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura, Egyptc;Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany, and Synmikro, Philipps-Universität, Marburg, Germanyd |
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Abstract: | The butyrogenic genes from Clostridium difficile DSM 1296T have been cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The enzymes acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA) C-acetyltransferase, 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase, crotonase, phosphate butyryltransferase, and butyrate kinase and the butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase complex composed of the dehydrogenase and two electron-transferring flavoprotein subunits were individually produced in E. coli and kinetically characterized in vitro. While most of these enzymes were measured using well-established test systems, novel methods to determine butyrate kinase and butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase activities with respect to physiological function were developed. Subsequently, the individual genes were combined to form a single plasmid-encoded operon in a plasmid vector, which was successfully used to confer butyrate-forming capability to the host. In vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that C. difficile possesses a bifurcating butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase which catalyzes the NADH-dependent reduction of ferredoxin coupled to the reduction of crotonyl-CoA also by NADH. Since the reoxidation of ferredoxin by a membrane-bound ferredoxin:NAD+-oxidoreductase enables electron transport phosphorylation, additional ATP is formed. The butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase from C. difficile is oxygen stable and apparently uses oxygen as a co-oxidant of NADH in the presence of air. These properties suggest that this enzyme complex might be well suited to provide butyryl-CoA for solventogenesis in recombinant strains. The central role of bifurcating butyryl-CoA dehydrogenases and membrane-bound ferredoxin:NAD oxidoreductases (Rhodobacter
nitrogen fixation RNF]), which affect the energy yield of butyrate fermentation in the clostridial metabolism, is discussed. |
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