Enhanced butanol production from cassava with Clostridium acetobutylicum by genome shuffling.

To obtain strains exhibiting high levels of solvent tolerance and butanol production, wild type strains of Clostridium acetobutylicum butanol-producing strain GX01 and Lactobacillus mucosae butanol-tolerant strain M26 were subjected to mutagenesis combining N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine induction with genome shuffling. After four successive rounds of genome shuffling, the C. acetobutylicum shuffled strain GS4-3 showing greater levels of fermentation performances (such as secreting a higher level of amylase, improving the thermal stability, and possessing greater environmental robustness) compared to the wild type strains was isolated. As a result, after optimization of culture conditions, mutant GS4-3 produced 32.6 g/L of total solvent, 20.1 g/L of butanol production, and 0.35 g/L/h of butanol productivity, which were, respectively, increased by 23.5, 23.3, and 40.0 % than the wild-type strain GX01, in a 10 L bioreactor. The enhanced production of butanol and tolerance of solvent of mutant associated with GS4-3 make it promising for acetone/butanol/ethanol fermentation from cassava (Manihot esculenta).