Biotransformation of organic acids to their corresponding alcohols by Thermoanaerobacter pseudoethanolicus

Sean M Scully; Aaron Brown; Andrew B Ross; Johann Orlygsson

doi:10.1016/j.anaerobe.2019.03.004

Biotransformation of organic acids to their corresponding alcohols by Thermoanaerobacter pseudoethanolicus

Anaerobe. 2019 Jun:57:28-31. doi: 10.1016/j.anaerobe.2019.03.004. Epub 2019 Mar 12.

Authors

Sean M Scully¹, Aaron Brown², Andrew B Ross², Johann Orlygsson³

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Natural Resource Science, University of Akureyri, Borgir, Nordurslod 2, 600, Akureyri, Iceland.
² School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom.
³ Faculty of Natural Resource Science, University of Akureyri, Borgir, Nordurslod 2, 600, Akureyri, Iceland. Electronic address: jorlygs@unak.is.

PMID: 30876932
DOI: 10.1016/j.anaerobe.2019.03.004

Abstract

Higher order alcohols, such as 1-butanol and 1-hexanol, have a large number of applications but are currently prepared from non-renewable feedstocks. Here, the ability of Thermoanaerobacter pseudoethanolicus to reduce short-chain fatty acids to their corresponding alcohols using reducing potential generated by glucose catabolism with yields between 21.0 and 61.0%. ¹³C-labelled acetate, 1-propionate and 1-butyrate demonstrates that exogenously added fatty acids are indeed reduced to their corresponding alcohols. This mode of producing primary alcohols from fatty acids using a thermophilic anaerobe opens the door for the production of such alcohols from low-value materials using an inexpensive source of reducing potential.

Keywords: Biocatalysis; Bioreduction; Butanol; Hexanol; Propanol; Thermophiles.

MeSH terms

Alcohols / metabolism*
Biotransformation
Fatty Acids, Volatile / metabolism*
Glucose / metabolism
Thermoanaerobacter / metabolism*

Substances

Alcohols
Fatty Acids, Volatile
Glucose