''Basfia'' is a

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

of bacterium from the

Pasteurellaceae The Pasteurellaceae comprise a large family of Gram-negative bacteria. Most members live as commensals on mucosal surfaces of birds and mammals, especially in the upper respiratory tract. Pasteurellaceae are typically rod-shaped, and are a notabl ...

family, first described in 2010. Its only species, ''Basfia succiniciproducens'', is a

gram-negative Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. They are characterized by their cell envelopes, which are composed of a thin peptidoglycan cell wall ...

facultatively anaerobic A facultative anaerobic organism is an organism that makes ATP by aerobic respiration if oxygen is present, but is capable of switching to fermentation if oxygen is absent. Some examples of facultatively anaerobic bacteria are ''Staphylococcus' ...

, and immobile bacterium. It was first isolated from bovine

rumen The rumen, also known as a paunch, is the largest stomach compartment in ruminants and the larger part of the reticulorumen, which is the first chamber in the alimentary canal of ruminant animals. The rumen's microbial favoring environment allow ...

in 2008. Its ability to produce relatively large quantities of

succinic acid Succinic acid () is a dicarboxylic acid with the chemical formula (CH2)2(CO2H)2. The name derives from Latin ''succinum'', meaning amber. In living organisms, succinic acid takes the form of an anion, succinate, which has multiple biological ro ...

through fermentation in biomass

hydrolysate Hydrolysate refers to any product of hydrolysis. Protein hydrolysate has special application in sports medicine because its consumption allows amino acids to be absorbed by the body more rapidly than intact proteins, thus maximizing nutrient delive ...

s is potentially important for

industrial biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

Features

Its beneficial features include broad facultative

anaerobic metabolism Anaerobic respiration is respiration using electron acceptors other than molecular oxygen (O2). Although oxygen is not the final electron acceptor, the process still uses a respiratory electron transport chain. In aerobic organisms undergoing re ...

, genetic tractability, and substrate utilization. The bacterium is

cocci A coccus (plural cocci) is any bacterium or archaeon that has a spherical, ovoid, or generally round shape. Bacteria are categorized based on their shapes into three classes: cocci (spherical-shaped), bacillus (rod-shaped) and spiral ( of whi ...

rod-shaped A bacillus (), also called a bacilliform bacterium or often just a rod (when the context makes the sense clear), is a rod-shaped bacterium or archaeon. Bacilli are found in many different taxonomic groups of bacteria. However, the name ''Bacillu ...

and, like all

, has no

flagella A flagellum (; ) is a hairlike appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility. Many protists with flagella are termed as flagellates. A microorganism may have f ...

, i.e., it cannot actively move. The bacterium is gram-negative, i.e., it only has a thin, single-layer

murein Peptidoglycan or murein is a unique large macromolecule, a polysaccharide, consisting of sugars and amino acids that forms a mesh-like peptidoglycan layer outside the plasma membrane, the rigid cell wall (murein sacculus) characteristic of most ba ...

envelope that does not contain any

teichoic acid Teichoic acids (''cf.'' Greek τεῖχος, ''teīkhos'', "wall", to be specific a fortification wall, as opposed to τοῖχος, ''toīkhos'', a regular wall) are bacterial copolymers of glycerol phosphate or ribitol phosphate and carbohydr ...

s. Information on individual cell sizes is not scientifically documented. Colonies reach a diameter of 0.1 to 0.5 millimeters after 24 hours of growth and are colored translucent gray. ''Basfia succiniciproducens'', like the majority of

Pseudomonadota Pseudomonadota (synonym Proteobacteria) is a major phylum of Gram-negative bacteria. The renaming of phyla in 2021 remains controversial among microbiologists, many of whom continue to use the earlier names of long standing in the literature. The ...

, was characterized solely by

physiological Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

biochemical Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology an ...

features, while it has no eidonomic features compared to other species and

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

of the Pasteurellaceae. The first description fulfills the minimum standards applicable for characterizing a new species and genus within the Pasteurellaceae. All known strains anaerobically produce significant amounts of succinic acid,

acetic acid Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main component ...

, and

formic acid Formic acid (), systematically named methanoic acid, is the simplest carboxylic acid, and has the chemical formula HCOOH and structure . It is an important intermediate in chemical synthesis and occurs naturally, most notably in some ants. Es ...

as metabolic products during

fermentation Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food ...

Isolation

The bacterium was isolated during a screening for bacteria from the rumen of domestic cattle that are potentially useful in succinic acid production. It was first isolated in 2008, but its scientific description was made available in 2009. However, according to information from Kuhnert et al. 2009, it was not validly described.

Characteristics

B. succiniciproducens can be cultivated biotechnologically both on the classic fermentation medium glucose (sugar syrup, starch) and on

glycerine Glycerol (), also called glycerine in British English and glycerin in American English, is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting and non-toxic. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known ...

. Glycerin is obtained as raw glycerin in the production of rapeseed

methyl ester In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an oxoacid (organic or inorganic) in which at least one hydroxyl group () is replaced by an alkoxy group (), as in the substitution reaction of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. Glycerides are fa ...

(biodiesel) in large quantities and is therefore available as an inexpensive raw material for combined use. In 2008, Scholten was able to achieve yields of up to 5.8 g/L succinic acid based on D-glucose and sucrose with the newly isolated and at the time not yet described bacterium, with a productivity of up to 1.5 g/L 1·h, and the yield was a maximum of 0.6 grams of succinic acid per gram of substrate. They achieved yields of 8.4 g/L, 0.9 g/L·h, and 1.2 g/g substrate with raw glycerol. In comparison with other bacteria, particularly Anaerobiospirillum succiniciproducens,

Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...

, and Actinobacillus succinogenes, the maximum yield per liter is comparatively low, but the yield based on the substrate input and the productivity are comparable and can also be optimized by optimizing the logs. Bacteria based on raw glycerin as a substrate, for which the first approaches to continuous cultivation are in development, show particularly good properties.

Application of succinic acid

Succinic acid is a chemical with an annual demand of around 15,000 tons. It is conventionally produced based on

butadiene 1,3-Butadiene () is the organic compound with the formula (CH2=CH)2. It is a colorless gas that is easily condensed to a liquid. It is important industrially as a precursor to synthetic rubber. The molecule can be viewed as the union of two viny ...

and

n-butane Butane () or ''n''-butane is an alkane with the formula C4H10. Butane is a gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Butane is a highly flammable, colorless, easily liquefied gas that quickly vaporizes at room temperature. The name but ...

with

maleic anhydride Maleic anhydride is an organic compound with the formula C2H2(CO)2O. It is the acid anhydride of maleic acid. It is a colorless or white solid with an acrid odor. It is produced industrially on a large scale for applications in coatings and poly ...

as an intermediate. It is primarily used as a basis for various chemical and pharmaceutical industries (

tetrahydrofuran Tetrahydrofuran (THF), or oxolane, is an organic compound with the formula (CH2)4O. The compound is classified as heterocyclic compound, specifically a cyclic ether. It is a colorless, water-miscible organic liquid with low viscosity. It is ma ...

1,4-butanediol 1,4-Butanediol, colloquially known as BD or BDO, is a primary alcohol, and an organic compound, with the formula HOCH2CH2CH2CH2OH. It is a colorless viscous liquid. It is one of four stable isomers of butanediol. Synthesis In industrial sy ...

, etc.) and bio-based plastics such as

polyamide A polyamide is a polymer with repeating units linked by amide bonds. Polyamides occur both naturally and artificially. Examples of naturally occurring polyamides are proteins, such as wool and silk. Artificially made polyamides can be made through ...

s (PA),

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...

s, co-polyesters, and polyesteramides. Succinic acid is of interest as a biotechnologically manufactured product, and the market potential of several hundred thousand tons is forecasted. Together with other representatives of the C4-dicarboxylic acids, such as fumaric and

malic acid Malic acid is an organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a dicarboxylic acid that is made by all living organisms, contributes to the sour taste of fruits, and is used as a food additive. Malic acid has two stereoisomeric forms ...

, the

US Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United State ...

identified succinic acid in 2004 as one of twelve platform chemicals with particular biotechnological manufacturing potential. Various other potential succinic acid producers have been examined, such as Anaerobiospirillum succiniciproducens, Escherichia coli, Mannheimia succiniciproducens, and

Corynebacterium glutamicum ''Corynebacterium glutamicum'' is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacterium that is used industrially for large-scale production of amino acids. While originally identified in a screen for organisms secreting L-glutamate, mutants of ''C. glutamicum' ...

Metabolic engineering Metabolic engineering is the practice of optimizing genetic and regulatory processes within cells to increase the cell's production of a certain substance. These processes are chemical networks that use a series of biochemical reactions and enzy ...

for the production of high quantities of succinic acid should be optimized.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q809947 Pasteurellales Gram-negative bacteria Bacteria described in 2010 Monotypic bacteria genera