RESUMEN
The genus Clostridium consists of a diverse group of pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria. The non-pathogenic clostridia contain several solventogenic members of industrial importance, such as Clostridium acetobutylicum or C. beijerinckii. In the process of acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation, these strains are used in large scale fermentation plants since almost 100 years. Soon after establishment of the first plants, the fermentation processes suffered from different bacteriophage infections worldwide. A limited set of studies addressing bacteriophages in solventogenic clostridia have been conducted since then. In this study, we present the genome sequence of the temperate bacteriophage TBP2 of the solventogenic strain C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4 (HMT) that is used for ABE fermentation. The phage genome consists of 38 039 bp and includes 48 open reading frames. Sequence analysis indicates that the genome encloses random parts of the bacterial genome in addition to its own DNA. It represents the first fully sequenced genome of a temperate bacteriophage infecting solventogenic clostridia.
