BESC – Genetic Modifications to Improve Biofuel Yield in Clostridium Thermocellum

Clostridium thermocellum converts lignocellulosic biomass to a mixture of fermentation products, including ethanol, but it also produces amino acids as fermentation products. This invention is a genetic modification of Clostridium thermocellum that decreases the yield of amino acids during fermentation. This invention will enable the engineering of C. thermocellum strains that have higher yields of biofuels including but not limited to ethanol and isobutanol as well as to non-fuel chemicals. This modification can be combined with other genetic modifications to create a C. thermocellum strain that has a high yield of a product of interest.

---

---