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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2004, p. 5238-5243, Vol. 70, No. 9
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.9.5238-5243.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Substrate-Induced Production and Secretion of Cellulases by Clostridium acetobutylicum

Ana M. López-Contreras,1* Krisztina Gabor,1 Aernout A. Martens,1 Bernadet A. M. Renckens,2 Pieternel A. M. Claassen,3 John van der Oost,1 and Willem M. de Vos1

Laboratory of Microbiology,1 Agrotechnology and Food Innovations, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen,3 CMBI, Nijmegen, The Netherlands2

Received 7 January 2004/ Accepted 29 April 2004

Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 is a solventogenic bacterium that grows heterotrophically on a variety of carbohydrates, including glucose, cellobiose, xylose, and lichenan, a linear polymer of ß-1,3- and ß-1,4-linked ß-D-glucose units. C. acetobutylicum does not degrade cellulose, although its genome sequence contains several cellulase-encoding genes and a complete cellulosome cluster of cellulosome genes. In the present study, we demonstrate that a low but significant level of induction of cellulase activity occurs during growth on xylose or lichenan. The celF gene, located in the cellulosome-like gene cluster and coding for a unique cellulase that belongs to glycoside hydrolase family 48, was cloned in Escherichia coli, and antibodies were raised against the overproduced CelF protein. A Western blot analysis suggested a possible catabolite repression by glucose or cellobiose and an up-regulation by lichenan or xylose of the extracellular production of CelF by C. acetobutylicum. Possible reasons for the apparent inability of C. acetobutylicum to degrade cellulose are discussed.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Bioconversion Group, Agrotechnology and Food Innovations, P.O. Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. Phone: 31 317 478572. Fax: 31 317 475347. E-mail: ana.lopez-contreras{at}wur.nl.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2004, p. 5238-5243, Vol. 70, No. 9
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.9.5238-5243.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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