101. Top-Down Enrichment Guides in Formation of Synthetic Microbial Consortia for Biomass Degradation
- Author
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Michael K. Theodorou, Jennifer L. Brown, Jessica A. Sexton, David L. Valentine, St. Elmo Wilken, Michelle A. O’Malley, Sean P. Gilmore, John K. Henske, and Thomas S. Lankiewicz
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,0303 health sciences ,Methanobacteriaceae ,Microbial Consortia ,Biomedical Engineering ,General Medicine ,01 natural sciences ,Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous) ,Lignin ,Spirochaetaceae ,03 medical and health sciences ,Metagenomics ,Community dynamics ,010608 biotechnology ,Biofuels ,Biomass degradation ,Environmental science ,Biochemical engineering ,Anaerobiosis ,Biomass ,Bioprocess ,Piromyces ,Methane ,030304 developmental biology - Abstract
Consortium-based approaches are a promising avenue toward efficient bioprocessing. However, many complex microbial interactions dictate community dynamics and stability that must be replicated in synthetic systems. The rumen and/or hindguts of large mammalian herbivores harbor complex communities of biomass-degrading fungi and bacteria, as well as archaea and protozoa that work collectively to degrade lignocellulose, yet the microbial interactions responsible for stability, resilience, and activity of the community remain largely uncharacterized. In this work, we demonstrate a "top-down" enrichment-based methodology for selecting a minimal but effective lignocellulose-degrading community that produces methane-rich fermentation gas (biogas). The resulting enrichment consortium produced 0.75-1.9-fold more fermentation gas at 1.4-2.1 times the rate compared to a monoculture of fungi from the enrichment. Metagenomic sequencing of the top-down enriched consortium revealed genomes encoding for functional compartmentalization of the community, spread across an anaerobic fungus (
- Published
- 2019