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Feedstocks Affect the Diversity and Distribution of Propionate CoA-Transferase Genes (pct) in Anaerobic Digesters

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an attractive microbiological technology for both waste treatment and energy production. Syntrophic acetogenic bacteria are an important guild because they are essential for maintaining efficient and stable AD operation. However, this guild is poorly understood due to difficulties to culture them. In this study, we developed specific PCR assays targeting the propionate-CoA transferase genes (pct) to investigate their diversity and distribution in several mesophilic anaerobic digesters and a bench-scale temperature-phased AD (TPAD) system. Phylogenetic analysis of sequenced pct amplicons revealed the occurrence of Syntrophobacter fumaroxidans and six other clusters of putative pct genes. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) showed that pct diversity and abundance were largely correlated to the feedstocks of the digesters, while little difference was seen between the granular and the liquid fractions of each digester or between the two digesters of the TPAD system. Cluster-specific qPCR analysis revealed major impact of feedstocks and fractions on the abundance of pct genes. Readily fermentable substrates such as sugar- or starch-rich feedstocks selected for pct genes (Cluster I) related to Syntrophobacter, while manure feedstock selected for pct clusters related to pct of Clostridium spp. These results suggest that propionate metabolism can be affected by feedstocks and partition differently between solid and liquid phases in digesters. The PCR assays developed in this study may serve as a tool to investigate propionate-oxidizing bacteria in anaerobic digesters and other anaerobic environments.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Michael Nelson and Wen Lv for providing some of the DNA samples analyzed in this study. We thank Dr. Normand St-Pierre for his advice on the statistical analysis. This study was partially supported by a Department of Energy (DOE) grant (DE-FG36-05GO85010) awarded to Z.Y.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Science Graduate Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Yueh-Fen Li & Zhongtang Yu

  2. Department of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University, 2029 Fyffe Court, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Shan Wei & Zhongtang Yu

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  1. Yueh-Fen Li
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  2. Shan Wei
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Correspondence to Zhongtang Yu.

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Li, YF., Wei, S. & Yu, Z. Feedstocks Affect the Diversity and Distribution of Propionate CoA-Transferase Genes (pct) in Anaerobic Digesters. Microb Ecol 66, 351–362 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-013-0234-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-013-0234-z

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