title: Butanol formation from gaseous substrates.
abstract: Mostly, butanol is formed as a product by saccharolytic anaerobes, employing the so-called ABE fermentation (for acetone-butanol-ethanol). However, this alcohol can also be produced from gaseous substrates such as syn(thesis) gas (major components are carbon monoxide and hydrogen) by autotrophic acetogens. In view of economic considerations, a biotechnological process based on cheap and abundant gases such as CO and CO2 as a carbon source is preferable to more expensive sugar or starch fermentation. In addition, any conflict for use of substrates that can also serve as human nutrition is avoided. Natural formation of butanol has been found with, e.g. Clostridium carboxidivorans, while metabolic engineering for butanol production was successful using, e.g. C. ljungdahlii. Production of butanol from CO2 under photoautotrophic conditions was also possible by recombinant DNA construction of a respective cyanobacterial Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 strain.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Mikrobiologie und Biotechnologie, Universität Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89081 Ulm, Germany peter.duerre@uni-ulm.de.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dürre
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000440:Butanols / Q000378:metabolism*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D002248:Carbon Monoxide / Q000378:metabolism; D003132:Commerce; D005285:Fermentation; D005740:Gases / Q000378:metabolism*; D060847:Metabolic Engineering; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D010788:Photosynthesis
chemical_list: D000440:Butanols; D005740:Gases; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002248:Carbon Monoxide; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate
keywords: Clostridium carboxidivorans; Clostridium ljungdahlii; autotrophic acetogens; butanol; syngas