Single-genotype syntrophy by Rhodopseudomonas palustris is not a strategy to aid redox balance during anaerobic degradation of lignin monomers
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); The DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States)
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
Rhodopseudomonas palustris has emerged as a model microbe for the anaerobic metabolism of p-coumarate, which is an aromatic compound and a primary component of lignin. However, under an aerobic conditions, R.palustris must actively eliminate excess reducing equivalents through a number of known strategies (e.g., CO2 fixation, H2 evolution) to avoid lethal redox imbalance. Others had hypothesized that to ease the burden of this redox imbalance, a clonal population of R.palustris could functionally differentiate into a pseudo-consortium. Within this pseudo-consortium, one sub-population would perform the aromatic moiety degradation into acetate, while the other sub-population would oxidize acetate, resulting in a single-genotype syntrophy through acetate sharing. Here, the objective was to test this hypothesis by utilizing microbial lelectrochemistry as a research tool with the extrac ellular-electron-transferring bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens as a reporter strain replacing the hypothesized acetate-oxidizing sub-population. We used a 2×4 experimental design with pure cultures of R. palustris in serum bottles and co-cultures of R. palustris and G.sulfurreducens in bioelectrochemical systems.This experimental design included growth medium with and without bicarbonate to induce non-lethal and lethal redox imbalance conditions, respectively, in R. palustris. Finally, the design also included a mutant strain (NifA*) of R. palustris, which constitutively produces H2, to serve both as a positive control for metabolite secretion (H2) to G. sulfurreducens, and as a non-lethal redox control for without bicarbonate conditions. Our results demonstrate that acetate sharing between different sub-populations of R. palustris does not occur while degrading p-coumarate under either non-lethal or lethal redox imbalance conditions. Furthermore, this work highlights the strength of microbial electrochemistry as a tool for studying microbial syntrophy.
- Research Organization:
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AR0000312
- OSTI ID:
- 1312683
- Journal Information:
- Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol. 7; ISSN 1664-302X
- Publisher:
- Frontiers Research FoundationCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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