About this Research Topic
Clostridia are Gram-positive, spore-forming, obligate anaerobic bacteria. The exploitation of clostridia for large-scale production of commodity chemicals (for example, ABE acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation by solventogenic clostridia) can be dated back to 100 years ago. Although fermentative processes had fallen out of favor after the establishment of more economical petrochemical processes, the necessity of sustainable development has renewed interest in the production of biofuels and biochemicals from low-cost biomass. In recent years, several species of clostridia, including conventional solventogenic clostridia, cellulolytic clostridia, Clostridium acetogens, C. tyrobutyricum, and C. kluyveri, have garnered immense interest in the field of industrial biotechnology as a result of their diversity of substrate utilization (biomass-derived carbohydrates, wastes materials and gases, and C1 compounds) and bioproducts production (C2-C8 carboxylates and alcohols).
The economic production of renewable biofuels and biochemicals by Clostridia relies significantly on the development of inexpensive substrates, robust strain, and efficient fermentation and/or downstream processes. In this context, considerable advances in omics technology, genome-scale metabolic network, genome editing tool, and synthetic biology enable the construction of more robust and efficient strain (with broad substrates and product spectrum, higher stress tolerance, titer, yield, and productivity). Additionally, process engineering strategies including bioreactor design, high-cell-density fermentation, in situ product separation, and consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) provide solutions for enhanced biofuels and biochemicals production.
We welcome contributions in the form of Brief Research Reports, Original Research, Mini Review, and Reviews relevant to the topic. Topics covered may include, but are not limited to:
• Metabolic engineering and/or process engineering of Clostridia for enhanced biofuels and chemicals production from renewable biomass (non-food crops, lignocellulosic and marine biomass, industrial and agricultural wastes, C1 gases, etc.), as well as novel technologies in downstream processing.
• Metabolic regulation mechanism of product formation and substrate utilization in Clostridia
• Developing novel synthetic biology parts and genome editing tools in Clostridia
• Engineering or evolving Clostridia for enhanced stress (solvent, acid, substrate, inhibitors, etc.) tolerance
• Natural and synthetic Clostridia co-cultures for CBP-based biorefinery
• Construct, analysis and application of genome-scale metabolic network in Clostridia
• Deciphering Clostridia metabolism based on the whole-genome sequence and omics-based analyses
The economic production of renewable biofuels and biochemicals by Clostridia relies significantly on the development of inexpensive substrates, robust strain, and efficient fermentation and/or downstream processes. In this context, considerable advances in omics technology, genome-scale metabolic network, genome editing tool, and synthetic biology enable the construction of more robust and efficient strain (with broad substrates and product spectrum, higher stress tolerance, titer, yield, and productivity). Additionally, process engineering strategies including bioreactor design, high-cell-density fermentation, in situ product separation, and consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) provide solutions for enhanced biofuels and biochemicals production.
We welcome contributions in the form of Brief Research Reports, Original Research, Mini Review, and Reviews relevant to the topic. Topics covered may include, but are not limited to:
• Metabolic engineering and/or process engineering of Clostridia for enhanced biofuels and chemicals production from renewable biomass (non-food crops, lignocellulosic and marine biomass, industrial and agricultural wastes, C1 gases, etc.), as well as novel technologies in downstream processing.
• Metabolic regulation mechanism of product formation and substrate utilization in Clostridia
• Developing novel synthetic biology parts and genome editing tools in Clostridia
• Engineering or evolving Clostridia for enhanced stress (solvent, acid, substrate, inhibitors, etc.) tolerance
• Natural and synthetic Clostridia co-cultures for CBP-based biorefinery
• Construct, analysis and application of genome-scale metabolic network in Clostridia
• Deciphering Clostridia metabolism based on the whole-genome sequence and omics-based analyses
Keywords: Clostridia, Biofuels and Biochemicals, Synthetic Biology, Industrial Biotechnology, Bioprocess Engineering
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
