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Metabolic resistance of a psychrotolerant VFA-oxidizing microbial community from an anaerobic bioreactor to changes in the cultivation temperature

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Abstract

A psychrotolerant microbial consortium from a low-temperature anaerobic EGSB bioreactor was grown separately on acetate, propionate, butyrate, and H2/CO2 at 30 and 10°C in glass flasks. In the course of the experiments, the cultivation temperature was changed at different time intervals. The initial rates of substrate utilization were higher at 30 than at 10°C. However, the microbial consortium was found to be well adapted to low temperatures; when grown at 10°C for 1.5–5 months, the rates of butyrate, propionate, and H2/CO2 utilization increased steadily. When grown at 30°C for 1.5–2.5 months, this consortium retained its ability to degrade VFA and H2/CO2 at 10°C. However, after long-term (150 days) cultivation at 10°C, its ability to utilize the substrates at 30°C decreased. In the consortium grown in the acetate-containing medium, a Methanosaeta-like methanogen was predominant; in media with propionate and butyrate, besides VFA-degrading bacteria, acetoclastic Methanosaeta-like and hydrogenotrophic Methanospirillum-like methanogenic archaea prevailed. A Methanospirillum-like strain predominated in the H2/CO2-containing medium. The Methanospirillum strain of this microbial community was presumably psychrotolerant. A method based on changes in the cultivation temperature is of practical interest and can be used to start up new bioreactors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. 60-letiya Oktyabrya 7, k. 2, Moscow, 117312, Russia

    S. N. Parshina, A. V. Ermakova & K. A. Shatilova

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  1. S. N. Parshina
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  2. A. V. Ermakova
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  3. K. A. Shatilova
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Correspondence to S. N. Parshina.

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Original Russian Text © S.N. Parshina, A.V. Ermakova, K.A. Shatilova, 2011, published in Mikrobiologiya, 2011, Vol. 80, No. 1, pp. 53–62

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Parshina, S.N., Ermakova, A.V. & Shatilova, K.A. Metabolic resistance of a psychrotolerant VFA-oxidizing microbial community from an anaerobic bioreactor to changes in the cultivation temperature. Microbiology 80, 50–59 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261711010127

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