Journal Article

Using DNA-based stable isotope probing to reveal novel propionate- and acetate-oxidizing bacteria in propionate-fed mesophilic anaerobic chemostats

Nie, Yong, Narihiro, Takashi, Hu, Bing, Wang, Hui-Zhong, Yi, Yue, Nobu, Masaru K., Tang, Yue-Qin, Gou, Min, Lv, Xiao-Meng, Zheng, Dan

2019

Overview

Propionate is one of the most important intermediates of anaerobic fermentation. Its oxidation performed by syntrophic propionate-oxidizing bacteria coupled with hydrogenotrophic methanogens is considered to be a rate-limiting step for methane production. However, the current understanding of SPOB is limited due to the difficulty of pure culture isolation. In the present study, two anaerobic chemostats fed with propionate as the sole carbon source were operated at different dilution rates (0.05 d −1 and 0.15 d −1 ). The propionate- and acetate-oxidizing bacteria in the two methanogenic chemostats were investigated combining DNA-stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP) and 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing. The results of DNA-SIP with 13 C-propionate/acetate suggested that, Smithella , Syntrophobacter , Cryptanaerobacter , and unclassified Rhodospirillaceae may be putative propionate-oxidizing bacteria; unclassified Spirochaetaceae , unclassified Synergistaceae , unclassified Elusimicrobia , Mesotoga , and Gracilibacter may contribute to acetate oxidation; unclassified Syntrophaceae and Syntrophomonas may be butyrate oxidizers. By DNA-SIP, unclassified OTUs with 16S rRNA gene abundance higher than 62% of total Bacteria in the PL chemostat and 38% in the PH chemostat were revealed to be related to the degradation of propionate. These results suggest that a variety of uncultured bacteria contribute to propionate degradation during anaerobic digestion. The functions and metabolic characteristics of these bacteria require further investigation.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 45/23 / 45/77 / 631/326/171 / 631/61/168 / Acetates - metabolism / Acetic acid / Anaerobic digestion / Anaerobiosis - physiology / Bacteria / Bacteria - genetics / Bacteria - isolation & purification / Bacteria - metabolism / Biodegradation / Biodegradation, Environmental / Bioreactors - microbiology / Carbon sources / Chemostats / Deoxyribonucleic acid / DNA / DNA - chemistry / DNA Probes - chemistry / DNA sequencing / Environmental Microbiology / Fermentation / Humanities and Social Sciences / Intermediates / Isotope Labeling - methods / Methanogenic bacteria / Microbiota - genetics / multidisciplinary / Next-generation sequencing / Oxidation / Oxidation-Reduction / Propionates - metabolism / Propionic acid / Pure culture / RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - analysis / RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics / rRNA 16S / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Stable isotopes