Abstract
Hydrogen (H2) release from photosynthetic microbial mats has contributed to the chemical evolution of Earth and could potentially be a source of renewable H2 in the future. However, the taxonomy of H2-producing microorganisms (hydrogenogens) in these mats has not been previously determined. With combined biogeochemical and molecular studies of microbial mats collected from Elkhorn Slough, Monterey Bay, California, we characterized the mechanisms of H2 production and identified a dominant hydrogenogen. Net production of H2 was observed within the upper photosynthetic layer (0–2 mm) of the mats under dark and anoxic conditions. Pyrosequencing of rRNA gene libraries generated from this layer demonstrated the presence of 64 phyla, with Bacteriodetes, Cyanobacteria and Proteobacteria dominating the sequences. Sequencing of rRNA transcripts obtained from this layer demonstrated that Cyanobacteria dominated rRNA transcript pyrotag libraries. An OTU affiliated to Microcoleus spp. was the most abundant OTU in both rRNA gene and transcript libraries. Depriving mats of sunlight resulted in an order of magnitude decrease in subsequent nighttime H2 production, suggesting that newly fixed carbon is critical to H2 production. Suppression of nitrogen (N2)-fixation in the mats did not suppress H2 production, which indicates that co-metabolic production of H2 during N2-fixation is not an important contributor to H2 production. Concomitant production of organic acids is consistent with fermentation of recently produced photosynthate as the dominant mode of H2 production. Analysis of rRNA % transcript:% gene ratios and H2-evolving bidirectional [NiFe] hydrogenase % transcript:% gene ratios indicated that Microcoelus spp. are dominant hydrogenogens in the Elkhorn Slough mats.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Michael Kubo, Adrienne Frisbee, Angela Detweiler and Erich Fleming for technical support. We thank Tijana Glavina del Rio, Susannah Tringe and Stephanie Malfatti of the Joint Genome Institute for assistance obtaining and analyzing amplicon pyrosequencing. Funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Genomic Sciences Program under contract SCW1039. Work at LLNL was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. Work at LBNL was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC02-05CH11231. DW was supported by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft).
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Burow, L., Woebken, D., Bebout, B. et al. Hydrogen production in photosynthetic microbial mats in the Elkhorn Slough estuary, Monterey Bay. ISME J 6, 863–874 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2011.142
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2011.142
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