A current challenge in the production of biofuels from cellulosic biomass is to develop strains of E. coli that can be grown in the presence of toxins that are found in the biomass. Furfural is a cellulosic breakdown product that is found in processed biomass that is known to inhibit growth of E. coli. It has been suggested that furfural causes single-stranded DNA breaks in E. coli, membrane disruption of the cell, as well as an intracellular pH drop that all lead to cell death. In this study, we describe the isolation of genes from metagenomic libraries that appear to give tolerance to furfural using an enrichment cycle and a plate selection method. In addition, furfural interaction with a model cell membrane system was examined using the Langmuir Blodgett technique. Genes isolated from the metagenomic libraries to this date all contained aminoglycoside 3’-phosphotransferase, an enzyme that provides kanamycin resistance in the plasmid and not to furfural. Early studies suggest furfural does not affect the properties of the model cell membrane. Both experiments help gain understanding of developing strains of E. coli for biofuel production.

Investigating the mechanism of furfural inhibition in E. coli

249th National Meeting (2015)

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