Question

What is the application of Clostridium Butylicum?

Answer 1

The bacillus Clostridium acetobutylicum is Gram-positive bacteria. Clostridium acetobutylicum is most commonly found in soil, however it has also been identified in a variety of other settings. It is mesophilic, preferring temperatures between $10$ and $65$ degrees Celsius. Furthermore, the organism is saccharolytic (able to break down sugar) and may produce a variety of commercially relevant chemicals, including acetone, ethanol, and butanol. In order to grow in its vegetative stage, it requires anaerobic conditions.

Complete explanation
Clostridium Butylicum is a Gram-positive, anaerobic, endospore-forming bacteria used to commercially produce butyric acid, acetone, ethanol, and butanol from starch. Clostridiumbutyricum has a range of effects on human health, ranging from favourable to harmful. While a non-toxigenic strain has been proven to have probiotic qualities in clinical practise, other strains have been associated to pathological disorders such as botulism in new-borns in preterm neonates. Clostridium acetobutylicum is an organism that has been utilised to produce the organic solvents acetone, n-butanol, and ethanol (ABE) on an industrial scale using a technique known as ABE fermentation.

Additional information:
It is motile throughout its entire surface via flagella in its vegetative stage. In aerobic settings, it can only live for a few hours before forming endospores, which can remain for years even in aerobic settings. Only when these spores are in anaerobic conditions can they continue to grow vegetatively.

Note:
Clostridium acetobutylicum is a chemoorganotroph, meaning it feeds on other organisms. It gets its energy via phosphorylation of the substrate through fermentation. Organic molecules serve as the electron source and acceptor in this fermentation, as they do in all others. As a result, it is heterotrophic, meaning it gets its carbon from organic molecules. It necessitates a carbohydrate supply that can be fermented in particular.