Project description:Inhibition of the anaerobic digestion process through accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFA) is a recurring problem which is the result of unbalanced growth between acidogenic bacteria and methanogens. A speedy recovery is essential for an establishment of a feasible economical biogas productions. Yet, little is known regarding the organisms participating in the recovery. In this study the organisms involved in the recovery were studied using protein-stable isotope probing (Protein-SIP) and mapping this data onto a binned metagenome. Under acetate-accumulated simulating conditions a formation of 13C-labeled CO2 and CH4 was detected immediately after the addition of [U-13C]acetate, indicative of a high turnover rate of acetate. Several labeled peptides were detected in protein-SIP analysis. These 13C-labeled peptides were mapped onto a binned metagenome for improved taxanomical classification of the organisms involved. The results revealed that Methanosarcina and Methanoculleus were actively involved in acetate turnover, as were five subspecies of Clostridia and one Bacteroidetes. The organisms affiliating with Clostridia and Bacteroidetes all contained the FTFHS gene for formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase, a key enzyme for reductive acetogenesis; indicating that these organisms are possible syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria (SAOB) that can facilitate acetate consumption via syntrophic acetate oxidation 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 involved in specific pathways.
Project description:Syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria have been identified as key organisms for efficient biogas production from protein-rich materials. They normally grow as lithotrophs or heterotrophs, producing acetate through the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, but when growing in syntrophy with methanogens, they reportedly reverse this pathway and oxidize acetate to hydrogen and carbon dioxide. However, the biochemical and regulatory mechanisms behind the shift and the way in which the bacteria regain energy remain unknown. In a genome-walking approach, starting with degenerated primers, we identified those gene clusters in Syntrophaceticus schinkii, Clostridium ultunense, and Tepidanaerobacter acetatoxydans that comprise the formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase gene (fhs), encoding a key enzyme of the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway. We also discovered that the latter two harbor two fhs alleles. The fhs genes are phylogenetically separated and in the case of S. schinkii functionally linked to sulfate reducers. The T. acetatoxydans fhs1 cluster combines features of acetogens, sulfate reducers, and carbon monoxide oxidizers and is organized as a putative operon. The T. acetatoxydans fhs2 cluster encodes Wood-Ljungdahl pathway enzymes, which are also known to be involved in C1 carbon metabolism. Isolation of the enzymes illustrated that both formyltetrahydrofolate synthetases of T. acetatoxydans were functionally active. However, only fhs1 was expressed, confirming bidirectional usage of the pathway.
Project description:Project description
In many anoxic environments, syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO) is a key pathway mediating the conversion of acetate into methane, and is accomplished through obligate mutualistic cross-feeding between SAO bacteria and methanogenic archaea. This pathway is particularly important in anaerobic digestion (AD) systems operating at thermophilic temperatures and/or with high ammonia. Despite the widespread importance of the SAO functional guild to the stability and efficiency of the AD process, little is known about their in situ ecophysiologies due to their difficulty of isolation as well as low biomass abundances. Here, we performed a long-term (300 day) continuous enrichment of a thermophilic (55C) SAO community from a municipal AD system. Over 80% of the enriched bioreactor metagenome collectively belonged to a three-member consortium, including an acetate-oxidizing DTU068 bacterium encoding for CO2, H2, and formate production, along with two methanogenic Methanothermobacter_A archaeal species. Stable isotope probing was coupled with metaproteogenomics to quantify carbon flux into each community member during acetate conversion and inform metabolic reconstruction and genome-scale modeling.
Sample processing
After 300 days of chemostat operation, batch microcosms were established in 40 ml glass serum bottles flushed with 80:20 N2:CO2 by anoxically transferring 18 ml of digestate from a single bioreactor (R2) and sealing with butyl rubber septa. Four different incubation conditions were established in triplicate: (1) blank control (e.g. no amendment); (2) 50 mM [12C]-acetate; (3) 50 mM [2 13C]-acetate (e.g. methyl-labeled); (4) 50 mM [1,2 13C]-acetate (universally labeled). Acetate was added to the microcosms (2 ml) as anoxic sterilized basal medium containing [12C], [2 13C], or [1,2 13C] sodium acetate (isotope purity >98%, Cambridge Isotopes). Twelve replicate bottles were established for all universally-labeled acetate-amended microcosms, allowing for three triplicate sets to be sacrificed for protein extraction at 24h, 144 hr, and 408 hr, and a single triplicate set for liquid sampling throughout for VFA analysis. Biomass was pelleted from 10 ml liquid samples via centrifugation (10,000xg) and stored at minus 20C until protein extraction. Protein from cell pellet samples were extracted in an 8M urea solution, then reduced and alkylated. Proteins were then digested with trypsin and subsequently desalted using C18 solid phase extraction. MS analysis was performed using 0.1 ug/ul of peptide solution injected into a Q Exactive HF X mass spectrometer (Thermo Scientific).
Data processing
Mass spectrometry (MS) data for each biological replicate at all time points (n=18) were analyzed using an implementation of OpenMS implemented in KNIME. Briefly, MS/MS spectra were searched using the MS-GF+ tool against a protein database consisting of all ORFs from the de-replicated set of MAGs, concatenated with reversed (decoy) sequences of all protein entries. Peptide spectra matches (PSMs) were filtered at a 5% false discovery rate (FDR) with Percolator.
Project description:Acetate is a major intermediate in the anaerobic digestion of organic waste to produce CH4. In methanogenic systems, acetate degradation is carried out by either acetoclastic methanogenesis or syntrophic degradation by acetate oxidizers and hydrogenotrophic methanogens. Due to challenges in the isolation of syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria (SAOB), the diversity and metabolism of SAOB and the mechanisms of their interactions with methanogenic partners are not fully characterized. In this study, the in situ activity and metabolic characteristics of potential SAOB and their interactions with methanogens were elucidated through metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. In addition to the reported SAOB classified in the genera Tepidanaerobacter, Desulfotomaculum, and Thermodesulfovibrio, we identified a number of potential SAOB that are affiliated with Clostridia, Thermoanaerobacteraceae, Anaerolineae, and Gemmatimonadetes. The potential SAOB possessing the glycine-mediated acetate oxidation pathway dominates SAOB communities. Moreover, formate appeared to be the main product of the acetate degradation by the most active potential SAOB. We identified the methanogen partner of these potential SAOB in the acetate-fed chemostat as Methanosarcina thermophila. The dominated potential SAOB in each chemostat had similar metabolic characteristics, even though they were in different fatty-acid-fed chemostats. These novel syntrophic lineages are prevalent and may play critical roles in thermophilic methanogenic reactors. This study expands our understanding of the phylogenetic diversity and in situ biological functions of uncultured syntrophic acetate degraders and presents novel insights into how they interact with methanogens.IMPORTANCECombining reactor operation with omics provides insights into novel uncultured syntrophic acetate degraders and how they perform in thermophilic anaerobic digesters. This improves our understanding of syntrophic acetate degradation and contributes to the background knowledge necessary to better control and optimize anaerobic digestion processes.
Project description:To enrich syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria (SAOB), duplicate chemostats were inoculated with sludge from syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO)-dominated systems and continuously supplied with acetate (0.4 or 7.5 g l-1 ) at high-ammonia levels. The chemostats were operated under mesophilic (37°C) or thermophilic (52°C) temperature for about six hydraulic retention times (HRT 28 days) and were sampled over time. Irrespective of temperature, a methane content of 64-69% and effluent acetate level of 0.4-1.0 g l-1 were recorded in chemostats fed high acetate. Low methane production in the low-acetate chemostats indicated that the substrate supply was below the threshold for methanization of acetate via SAO. Novel representatives within the family Clostridiales and genus Syntrophaceticus (class Clostridia) were identified to represent putative SAOB candidates in mesophilic and thermophilic conditions respectively. Known SAOB persisted at low relative abundance in all chemostats. The hydrogenotrophic methanogens Methanoculleus bourgensis (mesophilic) and Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus (thermophilic) dominated archaeal communities in the high-acetate chemostats. In line with the restricted methane production in the low-acetate chemostats, methanogens persisted at considerably lower abundance in these chemostats. These findings strongly indicate involvement in SAO and tolerance to high ammonia levels of the species identified here, and have implications for understanding community function in stressed anaerobic processes.
Project description:The mutual nutritional cooperation underpinning syntrophic propionate degradation provides a scant amount of energy for the microorganisms involved, so propionate degradation often acts as a bottleneck in methanogenic systems. Understanding the ecology, physiology and metabolic capacities of syntrophic propionate-oxidizing bacteria (SPOB) is of interest in both engineered and natural ecosystems, as it offers prospects to guide further development of technologies for biogas production and biomass-derived chemicals, and is important in forecasting contributions by biogenic methane emissions to climate change. SPOB are distributed across different phyla. They can exhibit broad metabolic capabilities in addition to syntrophy (e.g. fermentative, sulfidogenic and acetogenic metabolism) and demonstrate variations in interplay with cooperating partners, indicating nuances in their syntrophic lifestyle. In this review, we discuss distinctions in gene repertoire and organization for the methylmalonyl-CoA pathway, hydrogenases and formate dehydrogenases, and emerging facets of (formate/hydrogen/direct) electron transfer mechanisms. We also use information from cultivations, thermodynamic calculations and omic analyses as the basis for identifying environmental conditions governing propionate oxidation in various ecosystems. Overall, this review improves basic and applied understanding of SPOB and highlights knowledge gaps, hopefully encouraging future research and engineering on propionate metabolism in biotechnological processes.
Project description:Changes in communities of syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria (SAOB) and methanogens caused by elevated ammonia levels were quantified in laboratory-scale methanogenic biogas reactors operating at moderate temperature (37°C) using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The experimental reactor was subjected to gradually increasing ammonia levels (0.8-6.9 g NH4 (+) -N l(-1) ), whereas the level of ammonia in the control reactor was kept low (0.65-0.90 g NH4 (+) -N l(-1) ) during the entire period of operation (660 days). Acetate oxidation in the experimental reactor, indicated by increased production of (14) CO2 from acetate labelled in the methyl carbon, occurred when ammonia levels reached 5.5 and 6.9 g NH4 (+) -N l(-1) . Syntrophic acetate oxidizers targeted by newly designed qPCR primers were Thermacetogenium phaeum, Clostridium ultunense, Syntrophaceticus schinkii and Tepidanaerobacter acetatoxydans. The results showed a significant increase in abundance of all these bacteria except T. phaeum in the ammonia-stressed reactor, coincident with the shift to syntrophic acetate oxidation. As the abundance of the bacteria increased, a simultaneous decrease was observed in the abundance of aceticlastic methanogens from the families Methanosaetaceae and Methanosarcinaceae. qPCR analyses of sludge from two additional high ammonia processes, in which methane production from acetate proceeded through syntrophic acetate oxidation (reactor SB) or through aceticlastic degradation (reactor DVX), demonstrated that SAOB were significantly more abundant in the SB reactor than in the DVX reactor.
Project description: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 (13)C-labeled CO2 and CH4 were detected immediately following incubation with [U-(13)C]acetate, indicating high turnover rate of acetate. The identified (13)C-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.