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    Home > Biochemistry News > Biotechnology News > Chengdu Biotech Institute has made progress in the research of microbial ecological strategies to predict the material and energy flow of anaerobic fermentation

    Chengdu Biotech Institute has made progress in the research of microbial ecological strategies to predict the material and energy flow of anaerobic fermentation

    • Last Update: 2022-11-15
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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     Anaerobic fermentation is widely used to treat the pollution of livestock and poultry manure, while converting these pollutants into biomethane to provide energy
    .
    The material conversion and energy flow in this process are mainly carried out
    by microorganisms.
    Therefore, it is crucial to reveal the ecological role of microorganisms in the anaerobic fermentation process, which can be applied to the prediction and management of fermentation performance of reactors, and can guide the development of new technologies and strategies
    to improve the efficiency of anaerobic fermentation.
    However, due to the high complexity and diversity of microbial communities, answering these scientific questions remains a challenge
    .
     

     Current research has found that the microbial rRNA operon (rrn) copy number can reflect the ecological strategy of microorganisms in energy distribution, that is, microorganisms with higher copy numbers are more likely to have lower substrate utilization efficiency and higher maximum growth rate, and vice versa
    .
    Low substrate utilization efficiency favors
    cross-feeding between microorganisms (incomplete degradation of one microorganism, utilizing a substrate, thereby producing intermediates for use by other microorganisms), and this cross-feeding Essential
    for substances and excess circulation during anaerobic fermentation.
    This leads to the hypothesis: Is the
    RRN average copy number of microbial communities a predictor of material and energy flow during anaerobic fermentation as an indicator that can simplify the complexity of microbial communities?  

    In order to test the above scientific hypotheses, Dr.
    Lin Qiang, a researcher in Li Xiangzhen's research group, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other researchers applied
    16S rRNA and 16S DNA amplicon sequencing to the activity, dynamics and rrn of microbial communities in the biogas production system of swine manure through anaerobic fermentation The average copy number has been studied
    in depth and systematically.
    As an important product of anaerobic fermentation, methane is closely related to the material and energy flow of fermentation process, so it is used in this study to estimate the material and energy flow of
    fermentation process.
    It was found that in anaerobic fermentation of pig manure
    , the average copy number and expression rate of RRN of microbial communities were closely related to methane production efficiency, which could well predict the material and energy flow in the
    fermentation process.
    However, when part of the pig manure substrate was replaced with a simple substrate (such as sugar or discarded apples) to reduce substrate complexity, the previously observed correlation weakened; When the substrate was replaced back to the previous substrate (pig manure), the correlation strength was restored
    .
    This is because simple substrates attenuate
    cross-feeding between microbes, thereby weakening predictability
    .
    The response of the average copy number and expression rate of the RRN of the microbial community to substrate addition differed
    greatly between the substrate of pig manure and the substrate of low complexity, and between biogas microorganisms and straw microorganisms.
     

    In this study, the ecological role of microorganisms in the anaerobic fermentation process was explored by the average copy number and expression rate of microbial community RRN, and it was revealed for the first time that a high average copy number and expression rate of RRN in microbial communities were conducive to the flow
    of substances and energy in anaerobic fermentation systems.
    The research results have important guiding significance
    for understanding the energy and material transformation led by microorganisms in anaerobic fermentation.
    The results were published in the international mainstream journal
    Water Research (2022).

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