Evaluation of Nanaerobic Digestion as a Mechanism to Explain Surplus Methane Production in Animal Rumina and Engineered Digesters

Wu, Zhuoying; Nguyen, Duc; Shrestha, Shilva; Raskin, Lutgarde; Khanal, Samir Kumar; Lee, Po-Heng

doi:10.1021/acs.est.2c07813

Evaluation of Nanaerobic Digestion as a Mechanism to Explain Surplus Methane Production in Animal Rumina and Engineered Digesters

Journal Article · Fri Aug 11 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Environmental Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c07813· OSTI ID:2470611

^[1]; Nguyen, Duc ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[5]; ^[6]

Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); Shaanxi Coal Hi-tech Research Institute Co. (China)
Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (United States); Heriot-Watt Univ., Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), Emeryville, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (United States)
Imperial College, London (United Kingdom)

Nanaerobes are a newly described class of microorganisms that use a unique cytochrome bd oxidase to achieve nanaerobic respiration at <2 μM dissolved oxygen (~1% of atmospheric oxygen) but are not viable above this value due to the lack of other terminal oxidases. Although sharing an overlapping ecological niche with methanogenic archaea, the role of nanaerobes in methanogenic systems has not been studied so far. To explore their occurrence and significance, we re-analyzed published meta-omic datasets from animal rumina and waste-to-energy digesters, including conventional anaerobic digesters and anaerobic digesters with ultra-low oxygenation. Results show that animal rumina share broad similarities in the microbial community and system performance with oxygenated digesters, rather than with conventional anaerobic digesters, implying that trace levels of oxygen drive the efficient digestion in ruminants. The rumen system serves as an ideal model for the newly named nanaerobic digestion, as it relies on the synergistic co-occurrence of nanaerobes and methanogens for methane yield enhancement. The most abundant ruminal bacterial family Prevotellaceae contains many nanaerobes, which perform not only anaerobic fermentation but also nanaerobic respiration using cytochrome bd oxidase. These nanaerobes generally accompany hydrogenotrophic methanogens to constitute a thermodynamically and physiologically consistent framework for efficient methane generation. Our findings provide new insights into ruminal methane emissions and strategies to enhance methane generation from biomass.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 2470611

Journal Information:: Environmental Science and Technology, Journal Name: Environmental Science and Technology Journal Issue: 33 Vol. 57; ISSN 0013-936X

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
anaerobic digestion
biogas
cytochrome Bd oxidase
microaeration
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nanaerobic respiration
oxygen
rumen

Evaluation of Nanaerobic Digestion as a Mechanism to Explain Surplus Methane Production in Animal Rumina and Engineered Digesters

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