Functional analysis of syntrophic LCFA-degrading microbial ecosystems

Abstract

[Excerpt] Introduction and Aim: Long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) are present in lipid rich wastewater and can be converted to methane anaerobically, coupling wastewater treatment to bioenergy production. Differences in the degradation of saturated and unsaturated long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) by anaerobic consortia are not completely understood. Previous studies showed a segregation on the microbial community composition when the same inoculum sludge was incubated with saturated- or with unsaturated-LCFA (Sousa et al., 2007), suggesting differences in their degradation pathways. In order to get more insights on this and aiming linking microbial community structure to function, a comparative shotgun metaproteomics study of a mesophilic anaerobic sludge incubated with saturated- and unsaturated-LCFA was conducted. Additionally, the metaproteome of a defined co-culture of Syntrophomonas zehnderi and Methanobacterium formicicum growing on saturated- and unsaturated-LCFA to methane was also analyzed. [...]