Metagenomic Analysis of a Tropical Composting Operation at the Sao Paulo Zoo Park Reveals Diversity of Biomass Degradation Functions and Organisms

Author(s):Show less -

Martins, Layla Farage ^[1] ; Antunes, Luciana Principal ^[1] ; Pascon, Renata C. ^[2] ; Franco de Oliveira, Julio Cezar ^[2] ; Digiampietri, Luciano A. ^[3] ; Barbosa, Deibs ^[1] ; Peixoto, Bruno Malveira ^[4] ; Vallim, Marcelo A. ^[2] ; Viana-Niero, Cristina ^[2] ; Ostroski, Eric H. ^[3] ; Telles, Guilherme P. ^[4] ; Dias, Zanoni ^[4] ; da Cruz, Joao Batista ^[5] ; Juliano, Luiz ^{[6, 5]} ; Verjovski-Almeida, Sergio ^[1] ; da Silva, Aline Maria ^[1] ; Setubal, Joao Carlos ^{[1, 7]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Quim, Dept Bioquim, BR-01498 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Ciencias Biol, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Escola Artes Ciencias & Humanidades, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[4] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Computacao, Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[5] Fundacao Parque Zool Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[6] Univ Fed Sao Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Biofis, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[7] Virginia Tech, Virginia Bioinformat Inst, Blacksburg, VA - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: PLoS One; v. 8, n. 4 APR 24 2013.
• Web of Science Citations: 55

Abstract

Composting operations are a rich source for prospection of biomass degradation enzymes. We have analyzed the microbiomes of two composting samples collected in a facility inside the Sao Paulo Zoo Park, in Brazil. All organic waste produced in the park is processed in this facility, at a rate of four tons/day. Total DNA was extracted and sequenced with Roche/454 technology, generating about 3 million reads per sample. To our knowledge this work is the first report of a composting whole-microbial community using high-throughput sequencing and analysis. The phylogenetic profiles of the two microbiomes analyzed are quite different, with a clear dominance of members of the Lactobacillus genus in one of them. We found a general agreement of the distribution of functional categories in the Zoo compost metagenomes compared with seven selected public metagenomes of biomass deconstruction environments, indicating the potential for different bacterial communities to provide alternative mechanisms for the same functional purposes. Our results indicate that biomass degradation in this composting process, including deconstruction of recalcitrant lignocellulose, is fully performed by bacterial enzymes, most likely by members of the Clostridiales and Actinomycetales orders. (AU)