Diversity analysis and bioprospection of microbial metagenome in a H2-producing biogas fermenter

Author(s)

Geizecler Tomazetto

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia
• Defense date: 2013-00-00

Examining board members

Suzete Aparecida Lanza Destéfano; Fernando Dini Andreote; Suzan Pantaroto de Vasconcellos; Anete Pereira de Souza

• Advisor: Valeria Maia Merzel

Abstract

Hydrogen appears to be the most promising candidate for the replacement of fossil fuel due to its potentially higher efficiency of conversion to usable power and no toxic emission production. The production of hydrogen from organic wastes is performed through the anaerobic digestion, making it an environmentally friendly alternative for satisfying future hydrogen demands. Nonetheless, the microorganisms and metabolic processes involved are far from being exhaustively characterized. In this work, samples of a domestic sewage treatment plant were analyzed in two complementary studies aiming at the characterization of its phylogenetic diversity and the description of new hydrogenases. The first one, combined the analysis of 16S rRNA and [FeFe]-hydrogenase (hydA) genes with statistical tools to estimate richness and diversity of the prokaryotic community at the phylogenetic and functional levels. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all archaeal sequences were affiliated with yet uncultured Euryarchaeota and that Proteobacteria were the most predominant and diversified phylogenetic group within the bacterial library. The putative hydA sequences were identified as hitherto undetected [Fe-Fe]- hydrogenase gene sequences. Diversity statistical analysis confirmed a great richness and diversity of bacterial and hydA sequences retrieved from the sewage sludge sample. In the second approach, a fosmid metagenomic library was constructed and analyzed employing 454- pyrosequencing technology, resulting in approximately 218 Mb of data. Three different classifiers applied allowed a broad overview of the most abundant taxonomic groups due to a huge number of metagenome reads remained unidentified. However, taxonomic analysis revealed Gammaproteobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria, respectively, as the most abundant classes, whereas species of the genus Methanospirillum were dominant among methanogenic Archaea. The analyzes of the microbial community metabolism by means of COG and Carma databases revealed that the degradation of biomass depends on different phylogenetic groups, for instance, Bacteroidia and Gammaproteobacteria were indicated as involved into the degradation of carbohydrate and proteins. Furthermore, the analysis suggested Clostridia and Methanomicrobiales and Methanosarcinales as the main microorganisms producing hydrogen and methane, respectively. Analysis of the six coding sequences of FeFe-hydrogenases identified into the dataset revealed that they represented novel target gene sequences. However, only four of these coding sequences could be detected into the fosmid library by PCR screening. The combined results obtained in this study allowed us to have an insight of the composition and potential metabolism of the microbes residing in the analyzed domestic sewage treatment plant and suggested such environment as a potential reservoir for new hydrogenase genes to biotechnological exploration (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 09/01823-5 - Diversity and bioprospection of microbial metagenome in biogas fermenters producing H2
• Grantee: Geizecler Tomazetto
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate