Project description:By using metagenome resolved protein stable isotope probing (protein-SIP) through incubations of identical reactors with 13C labelled bicarbonate over a period of 48 hours, the study aims to map differences in the metabolic behaviour of the microbial community during anaerobic digestion.
Project description:Industrial anaerobic digestion (AD) represents a relevant energy source beyond today’s fossil fuels, wherein organic matter is recycled to methane gas via an intricate and complex microbial food web. Despite its potential, anaerobic reactors often undergo process instability over time, mainly caused by substrate composition perturbations, making the system unreliable for stable energy production. To ensure the reliability of AD technologies, it is crucial to identify microbial- and system responses to better understand the effect of such perturbations and ultimately detect signatures indicative of process failure . Here, we investigate the effect of microalgal organic loading rate (OLR) on the fermentation products profile, microbiome dynamics, and disruption/recovery of major microbial metabolisms. Reactors subjected to low- and high-OLR disturbances were operated and monitored for fermentation products and biogas production over time, while microbial responses were investigated via 16S rRNA gene amplicon data, shotgun metagenomics and metagenome-centric metaproteomics.
