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Identification of novel potential acetate-oxidizing bacteria in thermophilic methanogenic chemostats by DNA stable isotope probing

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Syntrophic oxidization of acetate and propionate are both critical steps of methanogenesis during thermophilic anaerobic digestion. However, knowledge on syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria (SAOB) and syntrophic propionate-oxidizing bacteria (SPOB) is limited because of the difficulty in pure culture isolation due to symbiotic relationship. In this study, two thermophilic acetate-fed anaerobic chemostats, ATL (dilution rate of 0.025 day−1) and ATH (0.05 day−1) and one thermophilic propionate-fed anaerobic chemostat PTL (0.025 day−1) were constructed, AOB and POB in these chemostats were studied via microbial community analysis and DNA stable-isotope probing (SIP). The results showed that, in addition to Tepidanaerobacter, a known SAOB, species of Thauera, Thermodesulfovibrio, Anaerobaculum, Ruminiclostridium, Comamonas, and uncultured bacteria belonging to Lentimicrobiaceae, o_MBA03, Thermoanaerobacteraceae, Anaerolineaceae, Clostridiales, and Ruminococcaceae were determined to be potential AOB in chemostats. Pelotomaculum was the key SPOB detected in the propionate-fed chemostat. Based on the intense fluorescence of coenzyme F420, majority of Methanosarcina cells in acetate-fed chemostats were involved in hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, suggesting the existence of highly active SAOB among the detected AOB. In the propionate-fed chemostat, most of the species detected as AOB were similar to those detected in the acetate-fed chemostats, suggesting the contribution of the syntrophic acetate oxidization pathway for methane generation. These results revealed the existence of previously unknown AOB with high diversity in thermophilic chemostats and suggested that methanogenesis from acetate via the syntrophic oxidization pathway is relevant for thermophilic anaerobic digestion.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2016YFE0127700) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51678378).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, No. 24, South Section 1, First Ring Road, Chengdu, 610065, People’s Republic of China

    Dan Zheng, Hui-Zhong Wang, Min Gou & Yue-Qin Tang

  2. Biogas Institute of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Section 4-13, Renmin Road South, Chengdu, 610041, People’s Republic of China

    Dan Zheng

  3. Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Masaru Konishi Nobu & Takashi Narihiro

  4. College of Engineering, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100871, China

    Bin Hu & Yong Nie

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  1. Dan Zheng
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  2. Hui-Zhong Wang
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Zheng, D., Wang, HZ., Gou, M. et al. Identification of novel potential acetate-oxidizing bacteria in thermophilic methanogenic chemostats by DNA stable isotope probing. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 103, 8631–8645 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-019-10078-9

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