MESSAI.iO

Electrotroph · Acetogen · Homoacetogen

Clostridium ljungdahlii

Bacillota · Clostridia · Clostridiaceae

ElectroactiveEET inwardBSL-1Partial record
  • Acetogen
  • Syngas
  • Industrial
  • Wood ljungdahl
  • Tier 1
Inward
Electron transfer
electroactive
37°C
Optimal temperature
grows 30–40 °C
6
Optimal pH
grows pH 4.5–7
1.4g/L
Best acetate titer

01 · Identity

Identity

Where this organism sits in the tree of life, how to obtain it, and what a cell looks like.

Lineage

  1. domainBacteria
  2. ›phylumBacillota
  3. ›classClostridia
  4. ›orderEubacteriales
  5. ›familyClostridiaceae
  6. ›genusClostridium
  7. ›speciesClostridium ljungdahlii

Culture collections & accessions

DSMZ
DSM 13528
ATCC
ATCC 49587
NCBI taxon
1538

Cell morphology

Rod, Gram-positive (monoderm)

  • Motile: yes
  • Spore-forming: yes

02 · Electron transfer

Electron transfer

How electrons cross the cell envelope — the property that makes a microbe useful in an electrochemical system.

ElectroactiveEET inward

No extracellular electron-transfer route is curated for this organism yet.

Mechanisms

  • Outer-membrane cytochromes: no
  • Conductive pili / nanowires: no

Other

Cathode electron uptake mechanism
Indirect via H₂

03 · Growth envelope

Growth envelope

The conditions this organism tolerates and what it eats and breathes — the operating window for a reactor.

MesophileObligate anaerobeMixotroph
Temperature37 (30–40) °C
0100 °C
pH6 (4.5–7)
014

Energy metabolism

Electron donors

  • H2
  • CO
  • Cathode

Electron acceptors

  • CO2

Carbon sources

  • CO2
  • CO
  • H2
  • Fructose
  • Ethanol
  • Pyruvate
  • Fermentative: yes

Metabolism — detail

ATP synthase type
Proton dependent
Carbon fixation pathway
Wood ljungdahl

04 · Performance

Performance

Reported electrochemical output, the role it plays in a reactor, and what it produces.

Role in a reactor

Cathode chamberCathode: primary product producer

Products (2)

ProductMax titer (g/L)Max rateCoulombic efficiency
acetate1.4—
60 %
0100 %
ethanol———

Substrate → product (4)

  • CO + H2 (syngas)yields
    • Acetate
    • Ethanol
    • 2,3-butanediol

    anaerobic gas fermentation · Industrial syngas-to-ethanol organism (LanzaTech-relevant).

  • CO + H2 (syngas)yields
    • Acetate
    • Ethanol
    • 2,3-butanediol

    anaerobic gas fermentation · Industrial syngas-to-ethanol organism (LanzaTech-relevant).

  • CO2 + cathodeyields
    • Acetate

    biocathode MES

  • CO2 + cathodeyields
    • Acetate

    biocathode MES

05 · Ecology & biofilm

Ecology & biofilm

How it lives on an electrode, who it partners with, and where it is found in nature.

Ecosystems

  • Soil
  • Engineered MES
  • Anaerobic digester

Isolation sources

  • chicken yard waste

06 · Applications, engineering & safety

Applications, engineering & safety

Where it has been put to work, how tractable it is to engineer, and what handling it requires.

Applications (3)

  • Biofuels · Commercial

    LanzaTech commercial syngas fermentation, not yet at MES scale

    TRL 7/9
  • Microbial electrosynthesis acetate
    TRL 4/9
  • Carbon capture
    TRL 4/9

Engineering

Synthetic biology chassisIndustrial relevance 5/5

Reactor compatibility

  • MES cathode
  • MES three chamber
  • Patents associated: yes

Genetics

  • Genetically tractable: yes

Transformation methods

  • Electroporation
  • Conjugation
Available genetic tools
  • pMTL series plasmids
  • CRISPR-Cas9
  • ClosTron

Biosafety

BSL-1
  • Pathogen: no

Modeling assets

  • Genome-scale metabolic model: yes
  • iHN637 (Nagarajan et al. 2013)

Linked GEM: iHN637

07 · Sources & data quality

Sources & data quality

Every value above traces to a citation. This is how complete and how confident the record is.

Record quality

PartialHigh confidenceCurated: manual

Literature reviewed 2026-04-26 · schema v1.2.0 · updated 2026-04-28 · imported 2026-04-28

References (4)

  1. Tanner RS, et al. (1993). Clostridium ljungdahlii sp. nov. Int J Syst Bacteriol 43:232-236.
  2. Tanner RS, et al. (1993). Clostridium ljungdahlii sp. nov. Int J Syst Bacteriol 43:232-236.
  3. Nevin KP, et al. (2011). Electrosynthesis of organic compounds from CO2. Appl Environ Microbiol 77:2882-2886.doi:10.1128/AEM.02642-10
  4. Nevin KP, et al. (2011). Electrosynthesis of organic compounds from CO2. Appl Environ Microbiol 77:2882-2886.doi:10.1128/AEM.02642-10