Metaproteome analysis reveals that syntrophy, competition, and phage-host interaction shape microbial communities in biogas plants

Abstract

Background In biogas plants, complex microbial communities produce methane and carbon dioxide by anaerobic digestion of biomass. For the characterization of the microbial functional networks, samples of 11 reactors were analyzed using a high-resolution metaproteomics pipeline. Results Examined methanogenesis archaeal communities were either mixotrophic or strictly hydrogenotrophic in syntrophy with bacterial acetate oxidizers. Mapping of identified metaproteins with process steps described by the Anaerobic Digestion Model 1 confirmed its main assumptions and also proposed some extensions such as syntrophic acetate oxidation or fermentation of alcohols. Results indicate that the microbial communities were shaped by syntrophy as well as competition and phage-host interactions causing cell lysis. For the families Bacillaceae , Enterobacteriaceae , and Clostridiaceae , the number of phages exceeded up to 20-fold the number of host cells. Conclusion Phage-induced cell lysis might slow down the conversion of substrates to biogas, though, it could support the growth of auxotrophic microbes by cycling of nutrients. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40168-019-0673-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Enrichment and characterisation of ethanol chain elongating communities from natural and engineered environments

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Genome Analyses and Genome-Centered Metatranscriptomics of Methanothermobacter wolfeii Strain SIV6, Isolated from a Thermophilic Production-Scale Biogas Fermenter

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Rumen Virus Populations: Technological Advances Enhancing Current Understanding

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“…Using functional meta-omics to characterize viral taxonomy and function has quickly shown the impact viruses have on ecosystem processes (Emerson et al, 2018). Metaproteomic analysis of viral communities has been used in bioreactors (Heyer et al, 2019) and ocean communities (Brum et al, 2016), which highlighted the presence of newly annotated functions and indications of phage-host interactions causing cell infection. Within the rumen of Alaskan moose, Solden et al (2018) used a combined meta-omic approach to identify 1,907 viral metagenomics contigs, which clustered into 810 viral populations.…”