<
i>
Clostridium thermocellum<
/i>
ferments cellulose, is a promising candidate for ethanol production from cellulosic biomass, and has been the focus of studies aimed at improving ethanol yield. <
i>
Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum<
/i>
ferments hemicellulose, but not cellulose, and has been engineered to produce ethanol at high yield and titer. Recent research has led to the identification of four genes in <
i>
T. saccharolyticum<
/i>
involved in ethanol production: <
i>
adhE<
/i>
, <
i>
nfnA<
/i>
, <
i>
nfnB<
/i>
and <
i>
adhA<
/i>
. We introduced these genes into <
i>
C. thermocellum<
/i>
and observed significant improvements to ethanol yield, titer, and productivity. The four genes alone, however, were insufficient to achieve in <
i>
C. thermocellum<
/i>
the ethanol yields and titers observed in engineered <
i>
T. saccharolyticum<
/i>
strains, even when combined with gene deletions targeting hydrogen production. Here, this suggests that other parts of <
i>
T. saccharolyticum<
/i>
metabolism may also be necessary to reproduce the high ethanol yield and titer phenotype in <
i>
C. thermocellum<
/i>
.