Peter McQueen

Growing interest in cellulolytic clostridia with potential for consolidated biofuels production is mitigated by low conversion of raw substrates to desired end products. Strategies to improve conversion are likely to benefit from emerging techniques to define molecular systems biology of these organisms. Clostridium stercorarium DSM8532T is an anaerobic thermophile with demonstrated high ethanol production on cellulose and hemicellulose. Although several lignocellulolytic enzymes in this organism have been well-characterized, details concerning carbohydrate transporters and central metabolism have not been described. Therefore, the goal of this study is to define an improved whole genome sequence (WGS) for this organism using in-depth molecular profiling by RNA-seq transcriptomics and tandem mass spectrometry-based proteomics. A paired-end Roche/454 WGS assembly was closed through application of an in silico algorithm designed to resolve repetitive sequence regions, resulting in a circular replicon with one gap and a region of 2 kilobases with 10 ambiguous bases. RNA-seq transcriptomics resulted in nearly complete coverage of the genome, identifying errors in homopolymer length attributable to 454 sequencing. Peptide sequences resulting from high-throughput tandem mass spectrometry of trypsin-digested protein extracts were mapped to 1,755 annotated proteins (68% of all protein-coding regions). Proteogenomic analysis confirmed the quality of annotation and improvement pipelines, identifying a missing gene and an alternative reading frame. Peptide coverage of genes hypothetically involved in substrate hydrolysis, transport and utilization confirmed multiple pathways for glycolysis, pyruvate conversion and recycling of intermediates. No sequences homologous to transaldolase, a central enzyme in the pentose phosphate pathway, were observed by any method, despite demonstrated growth of this organism on xylose and xylan hemicellulose. Complementary omics techniques confirm the quality of genome sequence assembly, annotation and error-reporting. Nearly complete genome coverage by RNA-seq likely indicates background DNA in RNA extracts, however these preps resulted in WGS enhancement and transcriptome profiling in a single Illumina run. No detection of transaldolase by any method despite xylose utilization by this organism indicates an alternative pathway for sedoheptulose-7-phosphate degradation. This report combines next-generation omics techniques to elucidate previously undefined features of substrate transport and central metabolism for this organism and its potential for consolidated biofuels production from lignocellulose.

Background: Clostridium thermocellum produces H₂ and ethanol, as well as CO₂, acetate, formate, and lactate, directly from cellulosic biomass. It is therefore an attractive model for biofuel production via consolidated bioprocessing. Optimization of end-product yields and titres is crucial for making biofuel production economically feasible. Relative protein expression profiles may provide targets for metabolic engineering, while understanding changes in protein expression and metabolism in response to carbon limitation, pH, and growth phase may aid in reactor optimization. We performed shotgun 2D-HPLC-MS/MS on closed-batch cellobiose-grown exponential phase C. thermocellum cell-free extracts to determine relative protein expression profiles of core metabolic proteins involved carbohydrate utilization, energy conservation, and end-product synthesis. iTRAQ (isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation) based protein quantitation was used to determine changes in core metabolic proteins in response to growth phase. Results: Relative abundance profiles revealed differential levels of putative enzymes capable of catalyzing parallel pathways. The majority of proteins involved in pyruvate catabolism and end-product synthesis were detected with high abundance, with the exception of aldehyde dehydrogenase, ferredoxin-dependent Ech-type [NiFe]-hydrogenase, and RNF-type NADH:ferredoxin oxidoreductase. Using 4-plex 2D-HPLC-MS/MS, 24% of the 144 core metabolism proteins detected demonstrated moderate changes in expression during transition from exponential to stationary phase. Notably, proteins involved in pyruvate synthesis decreased in stationary phase, whereas proteins involved in glycogen metabolism, pyruvate catabolism, and end-product synthesis increased in stationary phase. Several proteins that may directly dictate end-product synthesis patterns, including pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductases, alcohol dehydrogenases, and a putative bifurcating hydrogenase, demonstrated differential expression during transition from exponential to stationary phase. Conclusions: Relative expression profiles demonstrate which proteins are likely utilized in carbohydrate utilization and end-product synthesis and suggest that H₂ synthesis occurs via bifurcating hydrogenases while ethanol synthesis is predominantly catalyzed by a bifunctional aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase. Differences in expression profiles of core metabolic proteins in response to growth phase may dictate carbon and electron flux towards energy storage compounds and end-products. Combined knowledge of relative protein expression levels and their changes in response to physiological conditions may aid in targeted metabolic engineering strategies and optimization of fermentation conditions for improvement of biofuels production.