Abstract
Inhibition of anaerobic digestion through accumulation of volatile fatty acids occasionally occurs as the result of unbalanced growth between acidogenic bacteria and methanogens. A fast recovery is a prerequisite for establishing an economical production of biogas. However, very little is known about the microorganisms facilitating this recovery. In this study, we investigated the organisms involved by a novel approach of mapping protein-stable isotope probing (protein-SIP) onto a binned metagenome. Under simulation of acetate accumulation conditions, formations of 13C-labeled CO2 and CH4 were detected immediately following incubation with [U-13C]acetate, indicating high turnover rate of acetate. The identified 13C-labeled peptides were mapped onto a binned metagenome for improved identification of the organisms involved. The results revealed that Methanosarcina and Methanoculleus were actively involved in acetate turnover, as were five subspecies of Clostridia. The acetate-consuming organisms affiliating with Clostridia all contained the FTFHS gene for formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase, a key enzyme for reductive acetogenesis, indicating that these organisms are possible syntrophic acetate-oxidizing (SAO) bacteria that can facilitate acetate consumption via SAO, coupled with hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis (SAO-HM). This study represents the first study applying protein-SIP for analysis of complex biogas samples, a promising method for identifying key microorganisms utilizing specific pathways.
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Acknowledgements
This study was part of the project HYdrogen CONtrol for Optimization of Methane Production from Livestock Waste (HYCON) funded by the Danish Strategic Research Council (grant no. 10-093944).
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Mosbæk, F., Kjeldal, H., Mulat, D. et al. Identification of syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria in anaerobic digesters by combined protein-based stable isotope probing and metagenomics. ISME J 10, 2405–2418 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2016.39
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2016.39
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