2-39: Draft genome sequence, annotation and metabolic pathway reconstruction of the ethanol-tolerant thermophile Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius M10EXG

We report the draft genome sequence, annotation and metabolic pathway reconstruction of the ethanol-tolerant thermophile Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius M10EXG (Gth M10EXG). Gth M10EXG is a facultative anaerobe that can ferment a range of C5 and C6 sugars and shows growth in media containing up to 10% v/v ethanol and is therefore an excellent candidate for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation during bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass.  In order to understand the mechanisms of ethanol production, ethanol tolerance and to engineer optimum performance in an industrial bioethanol plant we decided to sequence the genome and do metabolic reconstruction of the pathways present in Gth M10EXG. The draft genome has 3.77 million base pairs arranged on 80 contigs and 4420 genes have been identified. A total of 2711 transcription units and 344 pathways have been assigned.  We will discuss the unique metabolic pathways identified in Gth M10EXG and compare the genome to closely related species Geobacillus kaustophilus and Geobacillus thermodenitrificans.