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Biohydrogen production beyond the Thauer limit by precision design of artificial microbial consortia.

ABSTRACT: Dark fermentative biohydrogen (H₂) production could become a key technology for providing renewable energy. Until now, the H₂ yield is restricted to 4 moles of H₂ per mole of glucose, referred to as the "Thauer limit". Here we show, that precision design of artificial microbial consortia increased the H₂ yield to 5.6 mol mol^-1 glucose, 40% higher than the Thauer limit. In addition, the volumetric H₂ production rates of our defined artificial consortia are superior compared to any mono-, co- or multi-culture system reported to date. We hope this study to be a major leap forward in the engineering of artificial microbial consortia through precision design and provide a breakthrough in energy science, biotechnology and ecology. Constructing artificial consortia with this drawing-board approach could in future increase volumetric production rates and yields of other bioprocesses. Our artificial consortia engineering blueprint might pave the way for the development of a H₂ production bioindustry.

SUBMITTER: Ergal I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7429504 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Biohydrogen production beyond the Thauer limit by precision design of artificial microbial consortia.

Ergal İpek İ Gräf Oliver O Hasibar Benedikt B Steiner Michael M Vukotić Sonja S Bochmann Günther G Fuchs Werner W Rittmann Simon K-M R SKR

Communications biology 20200814 1

Dark fermentative biohydrogen (H2) production could become a key technology for providing renewable energy. Until now, the H2 yield is restricted to 4 moles of H2 per mole of glucose, referred to as the "Thauer limit". Here we show, that precision design of artificial microbial consortia increased the H2 yield to 5.6 mol mol-1 glucose, 40% higher than the Thauer limit. In addition, the volumetric H2 production rates of our defined ...[more]

PMID: 32796915

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Project description:Background:The production of ethanol through the biochemical conversion of syngas, a mixture of H2, CO and CO2, has been typically studied using pure cultures. However, mixed microbial consortia may offer a series of benefits such as higher resilience and adaptive capacity, and non-sterile operation, all of which contribute to reducing the utility consumption when compared to pure culture-based processes. This work focuses on the study of strategies for the enrichment of mixed microbial consortia with high ethanologenic potential, investigating the effect of the operational conditions (pH and yeast extract addition) on both the ethanol yield and evolution of the microbial community along the enrichment process. The pH was selected as the main driver of the enrichment as it was expected to be a crucial parameter for the selection of carboxydotrophic bacteria with high ethanologenic potential. Additionally, a thermodynamic analysis of the network of biochemical reactions carried out by syngas-converting microbial consortia was performed and the potential of using thermodynamics as a basis for the selection of operational parameters favoring a specific microbial activity was evaluated. Results:All enriched consortia were dominated by the genus Clostridium with variable microbial diversity and species composition as a function of the enrichment conditions. The ethanologenic potential of the enriched consortia was observed to increase as the initial pH was lowered, achieving an ethanol yield of 59.2?±?0.2% of the theoretical maximum in the enrichment at pH 5. On the other hand, yeast extract addition did not affect the ethanol yield, but triggered the production of medium-chain fatty acids and alcohols. The thermodynamic analysis of the occurring biochemical reactions allowed a qualitative prediction of the activity of microbial consortia, thus enabling a more rational design of the enrichment strategies targeting specific activities. Using this approach, an improvement of 22.5% over the maximum ethanol yield previously obtained was achieved, reaching an ethanol yield of 72.4?±?2.1% of the theoretical maximum by increasing the initial acetate concentration in the fermentation broth. Conclusions:This study demonstrated high product selectivity towards ethanol using mixed microbial consortia. The thermodynamic analysis carried out proved to be a valuable tool for interpreting the metabolic network of microbial consortia-driven processes and designing microbial-enrichment strategies targeting specific biotransformations.

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Biohydrogen production beyond the Thauer limit by precision design of artificial microbial consortia.

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Biohydrogen production beyond the Thauer limit by precision design of artificial microbial consortia.

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