Metabolism and Solubilization of Cellulose by Clostridium cellulolyticum H10

When Clostridium cellulolyticum was grown with cellulose MN300 as the substrate, the rates of growth and metabolite production were found to be lower than those observed with soluble sugars as the substrate. At low cellulose concentrations, the growth yields were equal to those obtained with cellobiose. The main fermentation products from cellulose and soluble sugars were the same. Up to 15 mM of consumed hexose, a change in the metabolic pathway favoring lactate production similar to that observed with soluble sugars was found to occur concomitantly with a decrease in molar growth yield. With cellulose concentrations above 5 g/liter, accumulation of soluble sugars occurred once growth had ceased. Glucose accounted for 30% of these sugars. A kinetic analysis of cellulose solubilization revealed that cellulolysis by C. cellulolyticum involved three stages whatever cellulose concentration was used. Analysis of these kinetics showed three consecutive enzymatic activity levels having the same K(m) (0.8 g of cellulose per liter, i.e., 5 mM hexose equivalent) but decreasing values of V(max). The hypothesis is suggested that each step corresponds to differences in cellulose structure.