Comparison of metabolic pathway for hydrogen production in wild-type and mutant Clostridium tyrobutyricum strain based on metabolic flux analysis

There has been a great interest in fermentative hydrogen production during recent decades. However, the low H2 yield associated with fermentative hydrogen production process continues to hinder its industrial application. It is delectable that a maximum 3.9 mol H2 per mol glucose was obtained in fed-batch fermentation mode with a butyric acid over-producing Clostridium tyrobutyricum mutant, which to our knowledge is the highest H2 yield ever got in the fermentation process with Clostridium sp. This study aimed to better understand the change of flux profile within the whole metabolic network and to conduct the metabolic flux analysis of fermentative hydrogen production. For the first time, we constructed a metabolic flux model for the anaerobic glucose metabolism of C. tyrobutyricum ATCC 25755, and revealed the internal mechanism responsible for the redistribution of the carbon flux in the mutant strain in comparison with the wide-type. The MFA methodology was used to study the fractional flux response to variations in operational pH, and revealed that pH was a significant operational parameter effecting on the fermentative hydrogen production process. Furthermore, the presence of NADH-ferredoxin oxidoreductase activity in this anaerobe was demonstrated. By measuring the activities of related enzymes in the biosynthesis pathway of hydrogen, we thus concluded that the increased specific activities of both NFOR and hydrogen-catalyzing enzyme (hydrogenase) would be attributed to the hydrogen over-producing.

► We constructed a metabolic flux model for H2 production of Clostridium tyrobutyricum. ► We revealed the redistribution of the carbon flux in mutant and wide-type strain. ► The operational pH was proved to be a key parameter for H2 production. ► The presence of a NFOR in C. tyrobutyricum was demonstrated. ► The high activities of NFOR and hydrogenase were benefit for H2 production.