title: Characterization of the sol operon in butanol-hyperproducing Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum strain N1-4 and its degeneration mechanism.
abstract: The solventogenic sol operon consisting of bld, ctfA, ctfB, and adc was cloned from Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum strain N1-4. These genes share as high as 95-98% similarity with the corresponding sol genes of Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 8052. The N1-4 sol gene cluster was transcribed in a polycistronic manner under the control of two promoters, and its transcription was highly induced during solventogenesis. Strain DGN3-4, the degenerated strain derived from N1-4, maintained the sol genes, but transcription of the DGN3-4 sol operon was hardly induced during solventogenesis. A substance extracted from the culture supernatants of wild-type N1-4 allowed us to induce transcription of the sol operon in DGN3-4. These results suggest that the degeneration is caused by the incompetence of the induction mechanism of the sol operon, and that transcription might be under the control of a quorum-sensing mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kosaka
authors.forename: Shunichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: Keizo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakaya
authors.forename: Sadazo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoshino
authors.forename: Kensuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Furukawa
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D000440:Butanols / Q000378:metabolism*; D003013:Clostridium / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009876:Operon / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D012997:Solvents; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D000440:Butanols; D012997:Solvents