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Syntrophic H2 production enhances the performance of primarily acetate-supplemented reactors treating sulphate contaminated solutions

View ORCID ProfileTomas Hessler, View ORCID ProfileSusan T.L. Harrison, View ORCID ProfileJillian F. Banfield, View ORCID ProfileRobert J. Huddy
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.12.443249
Tomas Hessler
1The Center for Bioprocess Engineering Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa
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Susan T.L. Harrison
1The Center for Bioprocess Engineering Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa
2The Future Water Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa
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  • For correspondence: sue.harrison@uct.ac.za
Jillian F. Banfield
3The Innovative Genomics Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
4The Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
5The Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
6School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Robert J. Huddy
1The Center for Bioprocess Engineering Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa
2The Future Water Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa
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Abstract

Biological sulfate reduction (BSR) represents a promising bioremediation strategy, yet the impact of metabolic interactions on performance has been largely unexplored. Here, genome-resolved metagenomics was used to characterise 17 microbial communities associated with reactors operated with defined sulfate-contaminated solutions. Pairs of reactors were supplemented with lactate or with acetate plus a small amount of fermentable substrate. At least thirty draft quality genomes, representing all the abundant bacteria, were recovered from each metagenome. All of the 22 SRB genomes encode genes for H2 consumption. And of the total 163 genomes recovered, 130 encode 321 NiFe and FeFe hydrogenases. The lactate-supplemented packed-bed bioreactor was particularly interesting as it resulted in stratified microbial communities that were distinct in their predominant metabolisms. Pathways for fermentation of lactate and hydrogen production were enriched towards the inlet whereas increased autotrophy and acetate-oxidizing SRB were evident towards the end of the flow path. We hypothesized that high sulfate removal towards the end of the flow path, despite acetate being an electron donor that typically sustains low SRB growth rates, was stimulated by H2 consumption. This hypothesis was supported by sustained performance of the predominantly acetate-supplemented stirred-tank reactor, which was dominated by diverse fermentative, hydrogen-evolving bacteria and low-abundance SRB capable of acetate and hydrogen consumption. We conclude that the performance of BSR reactors supplemented with inexpensive acetate can be improved by the addition of a low concentration of fermentable material due to stimulation of syntrophic relationships among hydrogen-producing non-SRB and dual hydrogen- and acetate-utilising SRB.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license.
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Posted May 12, 2021.
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Syntrophic H2 production enhances the performance of primarily acetate-supplemented reactors treating sulphate contaminated solutions
Tomas Hessler, Susan T.L. Harrison, Jillian F. Banfield, Robert J. Huddy
bioRxiv 2021.05.12.443249; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.12.443249
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Syntrophic H2 production enhances the performance of primarily acetate-supplemented reactors treating sulphate contaminated solutions
Tomas Hessler, Susan T.L. Harrison, Jillian F. Banfield, Robert J. Huddy
bioRxiv 2021.05.12.443249; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.12.443249

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