Forsberg_2015_Appl.Environ.Microbiol_82_528

Reference

Title : Identification of Genes Conferring Tolerance to Lignocellulose-Derived Inhibitors by Functional Selections in Soil Metagenomes - Forsberg_2015_Appl.Environ.Microbiol_82_528
Author(s) : Forsberg KJ , Patel S , Witt E , Wang B , Ellison TD , Dantas G
Ref : Applied Environmental Microbiology , 82 :528 , 2015
Abstract :

The production of fuels or chemicals from lignocellulose currently requires thermochemical pretreatment to release fermentable sugars. These harsh conditions also generate numerous small-molecule inhibitors of microbial growth and fermentation, limiting production. We applied small-insert functional metagenomic selections to discover genes that confer microbial tolerance to these inhibitors, identifying both individual genes and general biological processes associated with tolerance to multiple inhibitory compounds. Having screened over 248 Gb of DNA cloned from 16 diverse soil metagenomes, we describe gain-of-function tolerance against acid, alcohol, and aldehyde inhibitors derived from hemicellulose and lignin, demonstrating that uncultured soil microbial communities hold tremendous genetic potential to address the toxicity of pretreated lignocellulose. We recovered genes previously known to confer tolerance to lignocellulosic inhibitors as well as novel genes that confer tolerance via unknown functions. For instance, we implicated galactose metabolism in overcoming the toxicity of lignin monomers and identified a decarboxylase that confers tolerance to ferulic acid; this enzyme has been shown to catalyze the production of 4-vinyl guaiacol, a valuable precursor to vanillin production. These metagenomic tolerance genes can enable the flexible design of hardy microbial catalysts, customized to withstand inhibitors abundant in specific bioprocessing applications.

PubMedSearch : Forsberg_2015_Appl.Environ.Microbiol_82_528
PubMedID: 26546427
Gene_locus related to this paper: 9bact-a0a0u2zp04

Related information

Gene_locus 9bact-a0a0u2zp04
Gene_locus_frgt 9bact-a0a0u2yz91

Citations formats

Forsberg KJ, Patel S, Witt E, Wang B, Ellison TD, Dantas G (2015)
Identification of Genes Conferring Tolerance to Lignocellulose-Derived Inhibitors by Functional Selections in Soil Metagenomes
Applied Environmental Microbiology 82 :528

Forsberg KJ, Patel S, Witt E, Wang B, Ellison TD, Dantas G (2015)
Applied Environmental Microbiology 82 :528