Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Milferstedt, Kim
• Kuo-Dahab, W. Camilla
• Butler, Caitlyn S.
• Hamelin, Jérôme
• Abouhend, Ahmed S.
• Stauch-White, Kristie
• McNair, Adam
• Watt, Christopher
• Carbajal-González, Blanca I.
• Dolan, Sona
• Park, Chul

Titel

The importance of filamentous cyanobacteria in the development of oxygenic photogranules

Ist Teil von

• Scientific reports, 2017-12, Vol.7 (1), p.17944-15, Article 17944

Ort / Verlag

London: Nature Publishing Group UK

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Microorganisms often respond to their environment by growing as densely packed communities in biofilms, flocs or granules. One major advantage of life in these aggregates is the retention of its community in an ecosystem despite flowing water. We describe here a novel type of granule dominated by filamentous and motile cyanobacteria of the order Oscillatoriales . These bacteria form a mat-like photoactive outer layer around an otherwise unconsolidated core. The spatial organization of the phototrophic layer resembles microbial mats growing on sediments but is spherical. We describe the production of these oxygenic photogranules under static batch conditions, as well as in turbulently mixed bioreactors. Photogranulation defies typically postulated requirements for granulation in biotechnology, i.e., the need for hydrodynamic shear and selective washout. Photogranulation as described here is a robust phenomenon with respect to inoculum characteristics and environmental parameters like carbon sources. A bioprocess using oxygenic photogranules is an attractive candidate for energy-positive wastewater treatment as it biologically couples CO 2 and O 2 fluxes. As a result, the external supply of oxygen may become obsolete and otherwise released CO 2 is fixed by photosynthesis for the production of an organic-rich biofeedstock as a renewable energy source.