| Systems
Biology of Clostridium acetobutylicum - a possible answer
to dwindling crude oil reserves (COSMIC-SysMO)
Clostridium are bacteria which evolved before the earth had an
oxygen atmosphere. To them the air we breathe is a poison. To
survive they produce a spore resting stage, resistant to physical
and chemical agents. Some species cause devastating diseases,
such as the superbug Clostridium difficile. On the other hand,
most are totally harmless, and make a wide range of chemicals
useful to man. The best example is Clostridium acetobutylicum
which makes butanol. Butanol is an alcohol, which may be used
as a replacement for petrol. Despite their importance, our understanding
of their biology has lagged behind that of the more recently evolved
bacteria which ‘breathe’ oxygen. The aim of COSMIC
is to use a systems biology approach to allow more accurate predictions
of the behaviour of clostridia at the cellular level.
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