Metabolic Reconstruction and Experimental Verification of Glucose Utilization in Desulfurococcus Amylolyticus DSM 16532

Desulfurococcus amylolyticus DSM 16532 is an anaerobic and hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon known to grow on a variety of different carbon sources, including monosaccharides and polysaccharides. Furthermore, D. amylolyticus is one of the few archaea that are known to be able to grow on cellulose. Here, we present the metabolic reconstruction of D. amylolyticus' central carbon metabolism. Based on the published genome, the metabolic reconstruction was completed by integrating complementary information available from the KEGG, BRENDA, UniProt, NCBI, and PFAM databases, as well as from available literature. The genomic analysis of D. amylolyticus revealed genes for both the classical and the archaeal version of the Embden-Meyerhof pathway. The metabolic reconstruction highlighted gaps in carbon dioxide-fixation pathways. No complete carbon dioxide-fixation pathway such as the reductive citrate cycle or the dicarboxylate-4-hydroxybutyrate cycle could be identified. However, the metabolic reconstruction indicated that D. amylolyticus harbors all genes necessary for glucose metabolization. Closed batch experimental verification of glucose utilization by D. amylolyticus was performed in chemically defined medium. The findings from in silico analyses and from growth experiments are discussed with respect to physiological features of hyperthermophilic organisms.