BackgroundHigh-temperature fermentation (HTF) technology is expected to reduce the cost of bioconversion of biomass to fuels or chemicals. For stable HTF, the development of a thermotolerant microbe is indispensable. Elucidation of the molecular mechanism of thermotolerance would enable the thermal stability of microbes to be improved.ResultsThermotolerant genes that are essential for survival at a critical high temperature (CHT) were identified via transposon mutagenesis in ethanologenic, thermotolerant Zymomonas mobilis TISTR 548. Surprisingly, no genes for general heat shock proteins except for degP were included. Cells with transposon insertion in these genes showed a defect in growth at around 39 °C but grew normally at 30 °C. Of those, more than 60% were found to be sensitive to ethanol at 30 °C, indicating that the mechanism of thermotolerance partially overlaps with that of ethanol tolerance in the organism. Products of these genes were classified into nine categories of metabolism, membrane stabilization, transporter, DNA repair, tRNA modification, protein quality control, translation control, cell division, and transcriptional regulation.ConclusionsThe thermotolerant genes of Escherichia coli and Acetobacter tropicalis that had been identified can be functionally classified into 9 categories according to the classification of those of Z. mobilis, and the ratio of thermotolerant genes to total genomic genes in Z. mobilis is nearly the same as that in E. coli, though the ratio in A. tropicalis is relatively low. There are 7 conserved thermotolerant genes that are shared by these three or two microbes. These findings suggest that Z. mobilis possesses molecular mechanisms for its survival at a CHT that are similar to those in E. coli and A. tropicalis. The mechanisms may mainly contribute to membrane stabilization, protection and repair of damage of macromolecules and maintenance of cellular metabolism at a CHT. Notably, the contribution of heat shock proteins to such survival seems to be very low.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13068-017-0891-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The thermal resistance of fermenting microbes is a key characteristic of stable fermentation at high temperatures. Therefore, the effects of various metal ions on the growth of Zymomonas mobilis TISTR 548, a thermotolerant ethanologenic bacterium, at a critical high temperature (CHT) were examined. Addition of Mg 2+ and K + increased CHT by 1 • C, but the effects of the addition of Mn 2+ , Ni 2+ , Co 2+ , Al 3+ , Fe 3+ , and Zn 2+ on CHT were negligible. To understand the physiological functions associated with the addition of Mg 2+ or K + , cell morphology, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, and ethanol productivity were investigated at 39 • C (i.e., above CHT). Cell elongation was repressed by Mg 2+ , but not by K + . Addition of both metals reduced intracellular ROS level, with only K + showing the highest reduction strength, followed by both metals and only Mg 2+ . Additionally, ethanol productivity was recovered with the addition of both metals. Moreover, the addition of Mg 2+ or K + at a non-permissive temperature in 26 thermosensitive, single gene-disrupted mutants of Z. mobilis TISTR 548 revealed that several mutants showed metal ion-specific growth improvement. Remarkably, K + repressed growth of two mutants. These results suggest that K + and Mg 2+ enhance cell growth at CHT via different mechanisms, which involve the maintenance of low intracellular ROS levels.

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