Clostridium acetobutylicum

Chaim Weizmann

Clostridium acetobutylicum, ATCC 824, is a commercially valuable bacterium sometimes called the "Weizmann Organism", after Jewish-Russian-born Chaim Weizmann, then senior lecturer at the University of Manchester, England, used them in 1916 as a bio-chemical tool to produce at the same time, jointly, acetone, ethanol, and butanol from starch. The method was described since as the ABE process, (Acetone Butanol Ethanol fermentation process), yielding 3 parts of acetone, 6 of butanol, and 1 of ethanol, reducing the former difficulties to make cordite, an explosive, from acetone and paving the way also, for instance, to obtain vehicle fuels and synthetic rubber.

Unlike yeast, which can digest sugar only into alcohol and carbon dioxide, C. acetobutylicum and other Clostridia can digest whey, sugar, starch, cellulose and perhaps certain types of lignin, yielding butanol, propionic acid, ether, and glycerin.

In genetic engineering

In 2008, James Liao, a chemical engineer at the University of California, Los Angeles developed a method to insert genes responsible for production of butanol from Clostridium acetobutylicum into the bacterium Escherichia coli.^[1][2] In 2013, the first microbial production of short-chain alkanes was reported^[3] - which is a considerable step toward the production of gasoline. One of the crucial enzymes - a fatty acyl-CoA reductase - came from Clostridium acetobutylicum.

See also

• ABE
• Acetone
• Butanol
• Ethanol

References

• http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Chaim_Weizmann.aspx
• Jones, DT; Woods, DR (1986). "Acetone-butanol fermentation revisited". Microbiological reviews 50 (4): 484–524. PMC 373084. PMID 3540574.  Pages 484 - 524.
• Ronald M. Atlas, Richard Barta, Microbial Ecology, Fundamentals and Applications, Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co. Inc., Redwood City, CA, 3rd edition, 563 pages.ISBN 0-8053-0653-6
• Microbial Processes: Promising Technologies for Developing Countries, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, (1979).

See,Internet: http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9544&page=R1. Probably, you can see, for immediate results, (consulted May 2011): 27 hits 6 Fuel and Energy 107-123 42 hits 7 Waste Treatment and Utilization 124-141 36 hits 8 Cellulose Conversion 142-157

• UCLA researchers engineer E. coli to produce record-setting amounts of alternative fuel, 16 March 2011, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.phpaz=view_all&address=115x280888

Further reading

• Nölling J, Breton G, Omelchenko MV et al. (August 2001). "Genome sequence and comparative analysis of the solvent-producing bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum". J. Bacteriol. 183 (16): 4823–38. doi:10.1128/JB.183.16.4823-4838.2001. PMC 99537. PMID 11466286. 
• Driessen AJ, Ubbink-Kok T, Konings WN (February 1988). "Amino acid transport by membrane vesicles of an obligate anaerobic bacterium, Clostridium acetobutylicum". J. Bacteriol. 170 (2): 817–20. PMC 210727. PMID 2828326. 
• Zappe H, Jones WA, Jones DT, Woods DR (May 1988). "Structure of an endo-beta-1,4-glucanase gene from Clostridium acetobutylicum P262 showing homology with endoglucanase genes from Bacillus spp". Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 54 (5): 1289–92. PMC 202643. PMID 3389820. 
• Bowles LK, Ellefson WL (November 1985). "Effects of butanol on Clostridium acetobutylicum". Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 50 (5): 1165–70. PMC 238718. PMID 2868690. 

External links

• ATCC reference organism 824 C.Acetobutylicum.
• findarticles.com: Bacteria speeds drug to tumors - use of Clostridium acetobutylicum enzyme to activate cancer drug CB 1954.
• EPA Clostridium acetobutylicum Final Risk Assessment
• Carolina Bio Supply Living Culture Order Page
• Genetic Engineering of Clostridium acetobutylicum for Enhanced Production of Hydrogen Gas: Penn State University.
• Pathema-Clostridium Resource
• US Patent 1,875,536, issued September, 1932, Wheeler et al.
• US Patent 1,315,585, issued September, 1919, Weizmann
• Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Volume 87, Issue 4, July 2010, Pages 1303-1315, 129 references, Trends and challenges in the microbial production of lignocellulosic bioalcohol fuels by Weber, C., Farwick, A., Benisch, F., Brat, D., Dietz, H., Subtil, T., Boles, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Goethe-University Frankfurt Am Main, Max-von-Laue-Str. 9, Frankfurt am Main 60438, Germany. Cited only 4 times, (????), by others according to Computer searches made on 17 May 2011.

ISSN: 01757598 CODEN: AMBID doi:10.1007/s00253-010-2707-z PMID 20535464 Document Type: Short Survey Source Type: Journal