Recombinant Zymomonas for pentose fermentation
First Claim
1. The microorganism Zymomonas mobilis containing exogenous genes encoding L-arabinose isomerase, L-ribulokinase, L-ribulose-5-phosphate-4-epimerase, transaldolase and transketolase which is capable of growing on arabinose as a sole carbon source and fermenting said arabinose to ethanol, wherein said microorganism without said genes is incapable of fermenting said arabinose to ethanol.
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Abstract
The invention relates to microorganisms which normally do not ferment pentose sugar and which are genetically altered to ferment pentose sugar to produce ethanol, and fermentation processes utilizing the same. Examples include Zymomonas mobilis which has been transformed with combinations of E. coli genes for xylose isomerase, xylulokinase, transaldolase, transketolase, L-arabinose isomerase, L-ribulokinase, and L-ribulose-5-phosphate 4-epimerase. Expression of the added genes are under the control of Zymomonas mobilis promoters. These newly created microorganisms are useful for fermenting pentoses and glucose, produced by hydrolysis of hemicellulose and cellulose, to produce ethanol.
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12 Claims
- 1. The microorganism Zymomonas mobilis containing exogenous genes encoding L-arabinose isomerase, L-ribulokinase, L-ribulose-5-phosphate-4-epimerase, transaldolase and transketolase which is capable of growing on arabinose as a sole carbon source and fermenting said arabinose to ethanol, wherein said microorganism without said genes is incapable of fermenting said arabinose to ethanol.
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9. A vector for the transformation of Zymomonas mobilis comprising genes encoding L-arabinose isomerase, L-ribulokinase, L-ribulose 5-phosphate 4-epimerase, transaldolase and transketolase, and at least one promotor selected from the group consisting of Z. mobilis glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and Z. mobilis enolase recognized by Zymomonas mobilis which regulates the expression of the genes.
Specification