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A Novel CO-Responsive Transcriptional Regulator and Enhanced H2 Production by an Engineered Thermococcus onnurineus NA1 Strain.

Authors :
Min-Sik Kim
Ae Ran Choi
Seong Hyuk Lee
Hae-Chang Jung
Seung Seob Bae
Tae-Jun Yang
Jeong Ho Jeon
Jae Kyu Lim
Hwan Youn
Tae Wan Kim
Hyun Sook Lee
Sung Gyun Kang
Source :
Applied & Environmental Microbiology. Mar2015, Vol. 81 Issue 5, p1708-1714. 7p.
Publication Year :
2015

Abstract

Genome analysis revealed the existence of a putative transcriptional regulatory system governing CO metabolism in Thermococcus onnurineus NA1, a carboxydotrophic hydrogenogenic archaeon. The regulatory system is composed of CorQ with a 4-vinyl reductase domain and CorR with a DNA-binding domain of the LysR-type transcriptional regulator family in close proximity to the CO dehydrogenase (CODH) gene cluster. Homologous genes of the CorQR pair were also found in the genomes of Thermococcus species and "Candidatus Korarchaeum cryptofilum" OPF8. In-frame deletion of either corQ or corR caused a severe impairment in CO-dependent growth and H2 production. When corQ and corR deletion mutants were complemented by introducing the corQR genes under the control of a strong promoter, the mRNA and protein levels of the CODH gene were significantly increased in a ΔCorR strain complemented with integrated corQR (ΔCorR/corQR↑) compared with those in the wild-type strain. In addition, the ΔCorR/corQR↑ strain exhibited a much higher H2 production rate (5.8-fold) than the wild-type strain in a bioreactor culture. The H2 production rate (191.9 mmol liter-1 h-1) and the specific H2 production rate (249.6 mmol g-1 h-1) of this strain were extremely high compared with those of CO-dependent H2-producing prokaryotes reported so far. These results suggest that the corQR genes encode a positive regulatory protein pair for the expression of a CODH gene cluster. The study also illustrates that manipulation of the transcriptional regulatory system can improve biological H2 production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00992240
Volume :
81
Issue :
5
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Applied & Environmental Microbiology
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
103558146
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.03019-14