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Combining microbial cultures for efficient production of electricity from butyrate in a microbial electrochemical cell.

ABSTRACT: Butyrate is an important product of anaerobic fermentation; however, it is not directly used by characterized strains of the highly efficient anode respiring bacteria (ARB) Geobacter sulfurreducens in microbial electrochemical cells. By combining a butyrate-oxidizing community with a Geobacter rich culture, we generated a microbial community which outperformed many naturally derived communities found in the literature for current production from butyrate and rivaled the highest performing natural cultures in terms of current density (? 11A/m(2)) and Coulombic efficiency (? 70%). Microbial community analyses support the shift in the microbial community from one lacking efficient ARB in the marine hydrothermal vent community to a community consisting of ? 80% Geobacter in the anode biofilm. This demonstrates the successful production and adaptation of a novel microbial culture for generating electrical current from butyrate with high current density and high Coulombic efficiency, by combining two mixed microbial cultures containing complementing biochemical pathways.

SUBMITTER: Miceli JF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4284095 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Combining microbial cultures for efficient production of electricity from butyrate in a microbial electrochemical cell.

Miceli Joseph F JF Garcia-Peña Ines I Garcia-Peña Ines I Parameswaran Prathap P Torres César I CI Krajmalnik-Brown Rosa R

Bioresource technology 20140702

Butyrate is an important product of anaerobic fermentation; however, it is not directly used by characterized strains of the highly efficient anode respiring bacteria (ARB) Geobacter sulfurreducens in microbial electrochemical cells. By combining a butyrate-oxidizing community with a Geobacter rich culture, we generated a microbial community which outperformed many naturally derived communities found in the literature for current production from butyrate and rivaled the highest performing natura ...[more]

PMID: 25048958

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Project description:Bio-augmentation could be a promising strategy to improve processes for treatment and resource recovery from wastewater. In this study, the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis was co-cultured with the microbial communities present in wastewater samples with high concentrations of nitrate or ammonium. Glucose supplementation (1%) was used to boost biomass growth in all wastewater samples. In anaerobic conditions, the indigenous microbial community bio-augmented with B. subtilis was able to rapidly remove nitrate from wastewater. In these conditions, B. subtilis overexpressed nitrogen assimilatory and respiratory genes including NasD, NasE, NarG, NarH, and NarI, which arguably accounted for the observed boost in denitrification. Next, we attempted to use the the ammonium- and nitrate-enriched wastewater samples bio-augmented with B. subtilis in the cathodic compartment of bioelectrochemical systems (BES) operated in anaerobic condition. B. subtilis only had low relative abundance in the microbial community, but bio-augmentation promoted the growth of Clostridium butyricum and C. beijerinckii, which became the dominant species. Both bio-augmentation with B. subtilis and electrical current from the cathode in the BES promoted butyrate production during fermentation of glucose. A concentration of 3.4 g/L butyrate was reached with a combination of cathodic current and bio-augmentation in ammonium-enriched wastewater. With nitrate-enriched wastewater, the BES effectively removed nitrate reaching 3.2 mg/L after 48 h. In addition, 3.9 g/L butyrate was produced. We propose that bio-augmentation of wastewater with B. subtilis in combination with bioelectrochemical processes could both boost denitrification in nitrate-containing wastewater and enable commercial production of butyrate from carbohydrate- containing wastewater, e.g. dairy industry discharges. These results suggest that B. subtilis bio-augmentation in our BES promotes simultaneous wastewater treatment and butyrate production.

Project description:BackgroundThe development of anti-islet cell autoimmunity precedes clinical type 1 diabetes and occurs very early in life. During this early period, dietary factors strongly impact on the composition of the gut microbiome. At the same time, the gut microbiome plays a central role in the development of the infant immune system. A functional model of the association between diet, microbial communities, and the development of anti-islet cell autoimmunity can provide important new insights regarding the role of the gut microbiome in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes.ResultsA novel approach was developed to enable the analysis of the microbiome on an aggregation level between a single microbial taxon and classical ecological measures analyzing the whole microbial population. Microbial co-occurrence networks were estimated at age 6 months to identify candidates for functional microbial communities prior to islet autoantibody development. Stratification of children based on these communities revealed functional associations between diet, gut microbiome, and islet autoantibody development. Two communities were strongly associated with breast-feeding and solid food introduction, respectively. The third community revealed a subgroup of children that was dominated by Bacteroides abundances compared to two subgroups with low Bacteroides and increased Akkermansia abundances. The Bacteroides-dominated subgroup was characterized by early introduction of non-milk diet, increased risk for early autoantibody development, and by lower abundances of genes for the production of butyrate via co-fermentation of acetate. By combining our results with information from the literature, we provide a refined functional hypothesis for a protective role of butyrate in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes.ConclusionsBased on functional traits of microbial communities estimated from co-occurrence networks, we provide evidence that alterations in the composition of mucin degrading bacteria associate with early development of anti-islet cell autoimmunity. We hypothesize that lower levels of Bacteroides in favor of increased levels of Akkermansia lead to a competitive advantage of acetogens compared to sulfate reducing bacteria, resulting in increased butyrate production via co-fermentation of acetate. This hypothesis suggests that butyrate has a protective effect on the development of anti-islet cell autoantibodies.

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Combining microbial cultures for efficient production of electricity from butyrate in a microbial electrochemical cell.

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Combining microbial cultures for efficient production of electricity from butyrate in a microbial electrochemical cell.

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