Proceedings of
International Conference on Advances in Environment and Bio-Technology EBT 2014
"A NOVEL METHOD TO INDUCE SOLVENT TOLERANCE IN BACTERIA"
Abstract: “Biobutanol has vast potential as a drop-in alternative to fossil fuel (1, 2). Butanol can be produced biologically by Clostridium beijerinckii and Clostridium acetobutylicum although biological production is uneconomical due to low process yields which account for high recovery costs by distillation (2-4). Poor microbiological solvent tolerance underlies poor process yields in biological solventogenesis, including butanol production. Solvents are known to compromise the integrity of biological membrane, accordingly research endeavours to develop solvent tolerant microbes have focused on shoring up membrane integrity in instances of solvent challenge using engineering, metabolic an adaptive approaches (2, 5-10). Membrane Insertion Molecules (MIMs) are molecules that modify cell function or stability by intercalating into the phospholipid bilayer of microbial membranes. There are two types of MIM; those designed to act as antimicrobial agents, killing cells by destabilizing the lipid bil”
Keywords: butanol, tolerance, biofules, membranes, modofication