Project description:By means of semi-continuous experiment, the washout effect of incoming and outgoing materials and long-term accumulation of endogenous ammonia in actual anaerobic digestion plant were simulated, and the ammonia inhibition mechanism in anaerobic digestion was explored.
Project description:In large-scale production processes, metabolic control is typically achieved by limited supply of essential nutrients like glucose or ammonia. With increasing bioreactor dimensions, microbial producers such as Escherichia coli are exposed to changing substrate availabilities due to limited mixing. In turn, cells sense and respond to these dynamic conditions leading to frequent activation of their regulatory programs. Previously, we characterized short- and long-term strategies of cells to adapt to glucose fluctuations. Here, we focused on fluctuating ammonia supply, while studying a continuously running two-compartment bioreactor system comprising a stirred tank reactor (STR) and a plug flow reactor (PFR). Genes were repeatedly switched on/off when E. coli returned to the STR. Moreover, E. coli revealed highly diverging long-term transcriptional responses in ammonia compared to glucose fluctuations. The identification of target genes may help to create robust cells and processes for large-scale application.
Project description:The ecophysiology of complete ammonia oxidizing Nitrospira (CMX) and their widespread occurrence in groundwater suggests that CMX bacteria have a competitive advantage over ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) in these environments. However, the relevance of their activity from the ecosystem-level process perspective has remained unclear. We investigated oligotrophic carbonate rock aquifers as a model system to assess the contribution of CMX, AOA and AOB to nitrification and to identify the environmental drivers of their niche differentiation at different levels of ammonium and oxygen. CMX accounted for up to 95% of the ammonia oxidizer communities. Nitrification rates were positively correlated to CMX clade A-associated phylotypes and AOB affiliated with Nitrosomonas ureae. Surprisingly, short-term incubations amended with the nitrification inhibitors allylthiourea and chlorate suggested that AOB contributed more than 90% to overall ammonia oxidation, while metaproteomics analysis confirmed an active role of CMX in both ammonia and nitrite oxidation. Ecophysiological niche differentiation of CMX clades A and B, AOA and AOB was linked to their requirements for ammonium, oxygen tolerance, and metabolic versatility. Our results demonstrate that despite numerical predominance of CMX, the first step of nitrification in oligotrophic groundwater is primarily governed by AOB. Higher growth yields at lower NH4+ turnover rates and energy derived from nitrite oxidation most likely enable CMX to maintain consistently high populations. Activity measurements combined with differential inhibition allowed a refined understanding of ammonia oxidizer coexistence, competition and cooperation beyond the insights from molecular data alone.
Project description:Physiological and molecular evidences have shown earlier that low CO2 might have been a major driving force during the evolution of C4 photosynthesis, not only being a selection pressure but also as a signaling agent. However, a mechanistic linkage between low CO2 and C4 emergence is missing. In this study, using transcriptomics study in model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, we demonstrated that under long-term low CO2 treatments, the up-regulation of C4 related genes were linked to the up-regulation of genes involved in photorespiration, nitrogen assimilation and glycolysis. Plants under low CO2 also showed altered d13C. The carbonic anhydrase (CA), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), malate dehydrogenase (MDH), glutamine oxoglutarate aminotransferase (GS-GOGAT), which are required to reassimilate ammonia, were up-regulated under low CO2. Furthermore, under low CO2, genes involved in PEP regeneration from glycolysis were up-regulated while pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK) was down-regulated, suggesting a route of PEP regeneration from glycolysis. All these results suggested that under long-term low CO2 treatment, the selection pressure to recapture the released ammonia from the increased photorespiration might have promoted the evolution of mechanisms for generation PEP from glycolysis and enhancement of enzymes catalyzing formation of oxaloacetate, one intermediate which can accept ammonia residue. These adjustments in metabolism provide a mechanistic linkage between low CO2 and evolution of C4 photosynthesis.
Project description:Efficient microbial conversion of lignocellulosic hydrolysates to biofuels is a key barrier to the economically viable deployment of lignocellulosic biofuels. A chief contributor to this barrier is the impact on microbial processes and energy metabolism of lignocellulose-derived inhibitors, including phenolic carboxylates, phenolic amides (for ammonia-pretreated biomass), phenolic aldehydes, and furfurals. To understand the bacterial pathways induced by inhibitors present in ammonia-pretreated biomass hydrolysates, which are less well studied than acid-pretreated biomass hydrolysates, we developed and exploited synthetic mimics of ammonia-pretreated corn stover hydrolysate (ACSH). To determine regulatory responses to the inhibitors normally present in ACSH, we measured transcript and protein levels in an Escherichia coli ethanologen using RNA-seq and quantitative proteomics during fermentation to ethanol of synthetic hydrolysates containing or lacking the inhibitors. Our study identified four major regulators mediating these responses, the MarA/SoxS/Rob network, AaeR, FrmR, and YqhC. Induction of these regulons was correlated with a reduced rate of ethanol production, buildup of pyruvate, depletion of ATP and NAD(P)H, and an inhibition of xylose conversion. The aromatic aldehyde inhibitor 5M-bM-^@M-^Qhydroxymethylfurfural appeared to be reduced to its alcohol form by the ethanologen during fermentation, whereas phenolic acid and amide inhibitors were not metabolized. Together, our findings establish that the major regulatory responses to lignocellulose-derived inhibitors are mediated by transcriptional rather than translational regulators, suggest that energy consumed for inhibitor efflux and detoxification may limit biofuel production, and identify a network of regulators for future synthetic biology efforts. Fermentations were carried out in 0.5L bioreactors (Sartorius) containing 0.3L of SynH, SynH lacking osmoprotectants, SynH+LT, or SynH lacking osmoprotectants but containing lignotoxins and cultures were diluted into SynH with initial OD at 0.2, grown anaerobically overnight, and then inoculated into bioreactors to a starting OD600 of 0.2. Two biological replicates (independent cultures) were grown in each medium. RNA samples were obtained at 4 time points, corresponding to exponential (Exp), transitional (Trans), early stationary (Stat1), and late stationary (Stat2) growth phases.
Project description:Ammonia-induced inhibition of manure-based continuous biomethanation process under different OLR and associated microbial community dynamics
| PRJNA659469 | ENA
Project description:Osmoprotectants protect methanogenic microbiome during ammonia toxicity events in continuous processes
| PRJNA886876 | ENA
Project description:Study of microbial diversity on syngas biomethanation process