Collaborative Research: Genetic Analysis and Metabolic Engineering of Solventogenic Clostridia

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

The objective of the project is to investigate the metabolic engineering of solventogenic Clostridia using modern molecular biology and genetic techniques. The primary goal of this interdisciplinary proposal is to genetically alter the metabolism of Clostridium acetobutylicum. The proposal describes four areas of activity; (1) a detailed examination of the regulation of the sol locus genes through a putative repressor, SolR; (2) a molecular analysis of the function of sporOA and of ORF (orfY) gene products, both of which are likely to be important in the expression of the sol locus genes; (3) an analysis of patterns of gene expression using cDNA arrays; and (4) the further development of antisense RNA as a metabolic engineering tool.