Simultaneous glucose and xylose uptake by an acetone/butanol/ethanol producing laboratory Clostridium beijerinckii strain SE-2

Most butanol-producing strains of Clostridium prefer glucose over xylose, leading to a slower butanol production from lignocellulose hydrolysates. It is therefore beneficial to find and use a strain that can simultaneously use both glucose and xylose. Clostridium beijerinckii SE-2 strain assimilated glucose and xylose simultaneously and produced ABE (acetone/butanol/ethanol). The classic diauxic growth behavior was not seen. Similar rates of sugar consumption (4.44 mM glucose h(-1) and 6.66 mM xylose h(-1)) were observed suggesting this strain could use either glucose or xylose as the substrate and it has a similar capability to degrade these two sugars. With different initial glucose:xylose ratios, glucose and xylose were consumed simultaneously at rates roughly proportional to their individual concentrations in the medium, leading to complete utilization of both sugars at the same time. ABE production profiles were similar on different substrates. Transcriptional studies on the effect of glucose and xylose supplementation, however, suggests a clear glucose inhibition on xylose metabolism-related genes is still present.