Construction of engineered RuBisCO Kluyveromyces marxianus for a dual microbial bioethanol production system

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 4;16(3):e0247135. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247135. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO) genes play important roles in CO2 fixation and redox balancing in photosynthetic bacteria. In the present study, the kefir yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus 4G5 was used as host for the transformation of form I and form II RubisCO genes derived from the nonsulfur purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris using the Promoter-based Gene Assembly and Simultaneous Overexpression (PGASO) method. Hungateiclostridium thermocellum ATCC 27405, a well-known bacterium for its efficient solubilization of recalcitrant lignocellulosic biomass, was used to degrade Napier grass and rice straw to generate soluble fermentable sugars. The resultant Napier grass and rice straw broths were used as growth media for the engineered K. marxianus. In the dual microbial system, H. thermocellum degraded the biomass feedstock to produce both C5 and C6 sugars. As the bacterium only used hexose sugars, the remaining pentose sugars could be metabolized by K. marxianus to produce ethanol. The transformant RubisCO K. marxianus strains grew well in hydrolyzed Napier grass and rice straw broths and produced bioethanol more efficiently than the wild type. Therefore, these engineered K. marxianus strains could be used with H. thermocellum in a bacterium-yeast coculture system for ethanol production directly from biomass feedstocks.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Proteins* / biosynthesis
  • Bacterial Proteins* / genetics
  • Clostridiales / growth & development*
  • Ethanol / metabolism*
  • Kluyveromyces* / enzymology
  • Kluyveromyces* / genetics
  • Kluyveromyces* / growth & development
  • Microorganisms, Genetically-Modified* / enzymology
  • Microorganisms, Genetically-Modified* / genetics
  • Microorganisms, Genetically-Modified* / growth & development
  • Rhodopseudomonas / enzymology
  • Rhodopseudomonas / genetics*
  • Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase* / biosynthesis
  • Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase* / genetics

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Ethanol
  • Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase

Supplementary concepts

  • Kluyveromyces marxianus
  • Rhodopseudomonas palustris

Grants and funding

The design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data were supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (https://www.most.gov.tw/) [104-2621-M-005-003-MY3, 107-2621-M-005-007- MY3, 107-2321-B-005-004, and 108-2321-B-005-009 to CCH and 107-2621-M-005-001 to SCL.