1. Temperature as competitive strategy determining factor in pulse-fed aerobic bioreactors
- Author
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Sieze Douwenga, Carmen Hogendoorn, Gerben Roelandt Stouten, Gerard Muyzer, Estelle Kilias, Robbert Kleerebezem, and Freshwater and Marine Ecology (IBED, FNWI)
- Subjects
Lysis ,Polymers ,Microorganism ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Microbial metabolism ,Biology ,Microbiology ,Competition (biology) ,Article ,Polyhydroxybutyrate ,03 medical and health sciences ,Bioreactors ,Bioreactor ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,030304 developmental biology ,media_common ,chemistry.chemical_classification ,0303 health sciences ,Bacteria ,030306 microbiology ,Temperature ,Polymer ,Pulp and paper industry ,Aerobiosis ,chemistry ,Microbial population biology ,Ecological Microbiology - Abstract
Exposing a microbial community to alternating absence and presence of carbon substrate in aerobic conditions is an effective strategy for enrichment of storage polymers (polyhydroxybutyrate, PHB) producing microorganisms. In this work we investigate to which extent intermediate storage polymer production is a temperature independent microbial competition determining factor. Eight parallel bioreactors were operated in the temperature range of 20-40 °C, but intermediate storage polymer production was only obtained at 25-35 °C. Besides PHB production and consumption, cell decay and subsequent cryptic growth on lysis products was found to determine process properties and the microbial community structure at all operational temperatures. At 40 °C decay processes cannot be overcome with additional energy from storage polymers, and fast-growing microorganisms dominate the system. At 20 °C, highly competitive communities with ambiguous storage properties were enriched. The results described here demonstrate that a rigorous experimental approach could aid in the understanding of competitive strategies in microbial communities.
- Published
- 2018