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Review
. 2017 Dec 12:8:2474.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.02474. eCollection 2017.

Sulfolobus - A Potential Key Organism in Future Biotechnology

Julian Quehenberger  1 , Lu Shen  2 , Sonja-Verena Albers  3 , Bettina Siebers  2 , Oliver Spadiut  1
Affiliations
Review

Sulfolobus - A Potential Key Organism in Future Biotechnology

Julian Quehenberger et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Extremophilic organisms represent a potentially valuable resource for the development of novel bioprocesses. They can act as a source for stable enzymes and unique biomaterials. Extremophiles are capable of carrying out microbial processes and biotransformations under extremely hostile conditions. Extreme thermoacidophilic members of the well-characterized genus Sulfolobus are outstanding in their ability to thrive at both high temperatures and low pH. This review gives an overview of the biological system Sulfolobus including its central carbon metabolism and the development of tools for its genetic manipulation. We highlight findings of commercial relevance and focus on potential industrial applications. Finally, the current state of bioreactor cultivations is summarized and we discuss the use of Sulfolobus species in biorefinery applications.

Keywords: Sulfolobus; acidophile; bioprocessing; biorefinery; biotechnology; thermophile.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Phylogenetic tree of the genus Sulfolobus based on all publicly available 16S rDNA sequences of acknowledged species. The tree was constructed with MEGA 7.0 using the maximum-likelihood method after automated alignment with clustalX2 and manual correction with GeneDoc. The percentages of replicate trees in which the associated taxa clustered together in the bootstrap test (1000 replicates) are shown next to the branches. The tree is drawn to scale, with branch lengths measured in the number of substitutions per site. Metallosphaera hakonensis H01-1 was used as out-group.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Central carbohydrate metabolism in Sulfolobus spp. The pathways for hexose and pentose degradation as well as glycogen, trehalose, and pentose formation are shown. D-arabinose (dashed lines) can only be utilized as carbon source by S. solfataricus and not by S. acidocaldarius. The current understanding of regulation by effectors is indicated by green stars and red boxes for activator and inhibitors, respectively. Enzymes catalyzing different reactions are depicted as numbers: (1) glucose dehydrogenase (broad substrate specificity); (2) gluconate dehydratase; (3) 2-keto-3-deoxygluconate kinase; (4) 2-keto-3-deoxy-(6-phospho) gluconate aldolase (broad substrate specificity); (5) non-phosphorylating glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; (6) glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; (7) phosphoglycerate kinase; (8) phosphoglycerate mutase; (9) glyceraldehyde:ferredoxin oxidoreductase; (10) glycerate kinase; (11) enolase; (12) pyruvate kinase; (13) phosphoenolpyruvate synthetase; (14) pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase; (15) triosephosphate isomerase; (16) fructose-1,-6-bisphosphate aldolase/phosphatase; (17) phosphoglucose/phosphomannose isomerase; (18) phosphoglucomutase/phosphomannomutase; (19) NTP-glucose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase; (20) glycogen synthase; (21) glycogen phosphorylase; (22) glucan-1,4-α-glucosidase; (23) hexokinase; (24) maltooligosyltrehalose synthase/maltooligosyltrehalose trehalohydrolase; (25) D-arabinose dehydrogenase; (26) D-arabinoate dehydratase; (27) L-arabinoate/D-xylonate dehydratase; (28) glycolaldehyde dehydrogenase/glycolaldehyde:ferredoxin oxidoreductase; (29) glycolate dehydrogenase; (30) 2-keto-3-deoxy-arabinoate/xylonate dehydratase; (31) α-ketoglutarate semi-aldehyde dehydrogenase; (32) citrate synthase; (33) aconitase; (34) isocitrate dehydrogenase; (35) α-ketoglutarate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase; (36) succinyl-CoA synthetase; (37) succinate dehydrogenase; (38) fumarase; (39) malate dehydrogenase; (40) isocitrate lyase; (41) malate synthetase. EMP, Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas; ED, Entner–Doudoroff; spED, semi-phosphorylative ED; npED, non-phosphorylative ED; RuMP, reversed ribulose monophosphate; TCA, tricarboxylic acid; G1P, glucose 1-phosphate; G6P, glucose 6-phosphate; F6P, fructose 6-phosphate; DHAP, dihydroxyacetone phosphate; GAP, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate; BPG, 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate; 3-PG, 3-phosphoglycerate; 2-PG, 2-phosphoglycerate; PEP, phosphoenolpyruvate; D-KDG, 2-keto-3-deoxy-D-gluconate; D-KDGal, 2-keto-3-deoxy-D-galactonate; D-KDPG, 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphate-D-gluconate; D-KDPGal, 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphate-D-galactonate; L-KDA, 2-keto-3-deoxy-L-arabinoate; D-KDA, 2-keto-3-deoxy-D-arabinoate; D-KDX, 2-keto-3-deoxy-D-xylonate; α-KGSA, α-ketoglutarate semi-aldehyde.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Scheme and setup of bioreactor system capable of reaching high cell densities via simultaneously applying a feed and cell-retention strategy. Nutrients can be continuously fed and at the same time spent medium containing metabolites and possibly inhibiting substances is removed via a membrane, while cells are retained.
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