Elementary Flux Mode Analysis of Acetyl-CoA Pathway in Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans Z-2901.

Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans is a carboxydotrophic hydrogenogenic bacterium species that produces hydrogen molecule by utilizing carbon monoxide (CO) or pyruvate as a carbon source. To investigate the underlying biochemical mechanism of hydrogen production, an elementary mode analysis of acetyl-CoA pathway was performed to determine the intermediate fluxes by combining linear programming (LP) method available in CellNetAnalyzer software. We hypothesized that addition of enzymes necessary for carbon monoxide fixation and pyruvate dissimilation would enhance the theoretical yield of hydrogen. An in silico gene knockout of pyk, pykC, and mdh genes of modeled acetyl-CoA pathway allows the maximum theoretical hydrogen yield of 47.62 mmol/gCDW/h for 1 mole of carbon monoxide (CO) uptake. The obtained hydrogen yield is comparatively two times greater than the previous experimental data. Therefore, it could be concluded that this elementary flux mode analysis is a crucial way to achieve efficient hydrogen production through acetyl-CoA pathway and act as a model for strain improvement.