Induction of lactate production associated with a decrease in NADH cell content enables growth resumption of Clostridium cellulolyticum in batch cultures on cellobiose

When grown in batch cultures in fermentors with 23.4 mM cellobiose, Clostridium cellulolyticum displayed biphasic growth kinetics not associated with sequential substrate consumption and which led to a twofold higher production of biomass than previously reported. In the first growth phase, acetate was the major product of cellobiose metabolism, since lactate and ethanol productions remained low. Furthermore, an accumulation of intracellular NADH was observed. The transition towards the second growth phase was accompanied by an induction of lactate production, in such a way that lactate became the major product of C. cellulolyticum metabolism. In addition, a decrease in NADH concentration was measured, concomitant with this induction of lactate production and with the growth resumption. During both growth phases, the NADH-ferredoxin reductase-hydrogenase system played a major function in NADH regeneration, since H2 production was 1.4- to 1.5-fold higher than that of CO2. Thus, we found that lactate production serves as an additional catabolic pathway enabling C. cellulolyticum to cope with excesses of carbon and NADH produced. Growth experiments on C. cellulolyticum under an atmosphere of carbon monoxide mimicked this phenomenon and confirmed that a high intracellular level of NADH can provide a barrier to bacterial growth.