Syntrophic acetate oxidation replaces acetoclastic methanogenesis during thermophilic digestion of biowaste

Stefan Dyksma,Claudia Gallert,Lukas Jansen

doi:10.1186/s40168-020-00862-5

Stefan Dyksma, Claudia Gallert + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00862-5

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Journal: Microbiome	Publication Date: Jul 3, 2020
Citations: 126	License type: open-access

Affiliation: University of Applied Sciences Emden Leer

Abstract

BackgroundAnaerobic digestion (AD) is a globally important technology for effective waste and wastewater management. In AD, microorganisms interact in a complex food web for the production of biogas. Here, acetoclastic methanogens and syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria (SAOB) compete for acetate, a major intermediate in the mineralization of organic matter. Although evidence is emerging that syntrophic acetate oxidation is an important pathway for methane production, knowledge about the SAOB is still very limited.ResultsA metabolic reconstruction of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from a thermophilic solid state biowaste digester covered the basic functions of the biogas microbial community. Firmicutes was the most abundant phylum in the metagenome (53%) harboring species that take place in various functions ranging from the hydrolysis of polymers to syntrophic acetate oxidation. The Wood-Ljungdahl pathway for syntrophic acetate oxidation and corresponding genes for energy conservation were identified in a Dethiobacteraceae MAG that is phylogenetically related to known SAOB. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and enrichment cultivation consistently identified the uncultured Dethiobacteraceae together with Syntrophaceticus, Tepidanaerobacter, and unclassified Clostridia as members of a potential acetate-oxidizing core community in nine full-scare digesters, whereas acetoclastic methanogens were barely detected.ConclusionsResults presented here provide new insights into a remarkable anaerobic digestion ecosystem where acetate catabolism is mainly realized by Bacteria. Metagenomics and enrichment cultivation revealed a core community of diverse and novel uncultured acetate-oxidizing bacteria and point to a particular niche for them in dry fermentation of biowaste. Their genomic repertoire suggests metabolic plasticity besides the potential for syntrophic acetate oxidation.1dV765cjiwNJNY-1M7VNFLVideo

Highlights

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a globally important technology for effective waste and wastewater management
Both 16S rRNA gene fragments extracted from the metagenome and total quality trimmed reads were used for taxonomic assignment (Fig. 1a, Additional file 2: Supplementary Methods)
Taken together, uncultured Dethiobacteraceae and unclassified Clostridia distantly related to Caldicoprobacter might harbor novel putatively syntrophic acetate-consuming bacteria that are widespread in thermophilic dry fermentation of biowaste

Summary

Introduction

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a globally important technology for effective waste and wastewater management. Acetoclastic methanogens and syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria (SAOB) compete for acetate, a major intermediate in the mineralization of organic matter. Unionized free ammonia (NH3) is toxic to microorganisms [18]; acetoclastic methanogens are generally more sensitive to ammonia than the hydrogenotrophic ones [19,20,21]. Under these high ammonia conditions, syntrophic acetate oxidation can become the dominant process for acetate consumption acetoclastic methanogenesis proceed concurrently [22,23,24,25,26,27]

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