A comparative phenotypic and genomic analysis of Clostridium beijerinckii mutant with enhanced solvent production

•C. beijerinckii BA101 exhibiting enhanced solvent production was characterized under controlled fermentation conditions.•Genome sequencing of BA101 mutant was carried out to reveal genetic mutations relevant to the phenotypes.•Comparative genomic analysis of BA101 with the parental strain and sibling mutants identified several genetic mutations.•The SNPs found in this study may be applied for engineering of solventogenic clostridia toward desirable phenotypes. The acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation by solventogenic clostridia has a long history of industrial butanol production. The Clostridium beijerinckii mutant BA101 has been widely studied for ABE fermentation owing to its enhanced butanol production capacity. Here, we characterized the BA101 mutant under controlled environmental conditions in parallel with the parental strain C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052. To investigate the correlation between phenotype and genotype, we carried out the genome sequencing of BA101. Through comparative genomic analysis, several mutations in the genes encoding transcriptional regulator, sensor kinase, and phosphatase were identified in the BA101 genome as well as other sibling mutants. Among them, the SNP in the Cbei_3078 gene encoding PAS/PAC sensor hybrid histidine kinase was unique to the BA101 strain. The identified mutations relevant to the observed physiological behaviors of BA101 could be potential genetic targets for rational engineering of solventogenic clostridia toward desired phenotypes.