Regueira, A., González-Cabaleiro, R. , Ofiţeru, I.D., Rodríguez, J. and Lema, J.M. (2018) Electron bifurcation mechanism and homoacetogenesis explain products yields in mixed culture anaerobic fermentations. Water Research, 141, pp. 349-356. (doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2018.05.013) (PMID:29804021)
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Abstract
Anaerobic fermentation of organic wastes using microbial mixed cultures is a promising avenue to treat residues and obtain added-value products. However, the process has some important limitations that prevented so far any industrial application. One of the main issues is that we are not able to predict reliably the product spectrum (i.e. the stoichiometry of the process) because the complex microbial community behaviour is not completely understood. To address this issue, in this work we propose a new metabolic network of glucose fermentation by microbial mixed cultures that incorporates electron bifurcation and homoacetogenesis. Our methodology uses NADH balances to analyse published experimental data and evaluate the new stoichiometry proposed. Our results prove for the first time the inclusion of electron bifurcation in the metabolic network as a better description of the experimental results. Homoacetogenesis has been used to explain the discrepancies between observed and theoretically predicted yields of gaseous H2 and CO2 and it appears as the best solution among other options studied. Overall, this work supports the consideration of electron bifurcation as an important biochemical mechanism in microbial mixed cultures fermentations and underlines the importance of considering homoacetogenesis when analysing anaerobic fermentations.
Item Type: | Articles (Editorial) |
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Additional Information: | The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU14/05457), and the Newcastle University Frontiers in Engineering Biology (NUFEB) project (EP/K039083/1) funded by EPSRC (United Kingdom). A. Regueira would like to thank the COST Action ES1202 for a Short Term Scientific Mission grant. A. Regueira and Prof. J. M. Lema belong to the Galician Competitive Research Group GRC/GPC2013-032 and to the CRETUS Strategic Partnership (AGRUP2015/02), co-funded by FEDER (UE). |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Gonzalez-Cabaleiro, Dr Rebeca |
Authors: | Regueira, A., González-Cabaleiro, R., Ofiţeru, I.D., Rodríguez, J., and Lema, J.M. |
College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Infrastructure and Environment |
Journal Name: | Water Research |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
ISSN: | 0043-1354 |
ISSN (Online): | 1879-2448 |
Published Online: | 11 May 2018 |
Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2018 The Authors |
First Published: | First published in Water Research 141: 349-356 |
Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons License |
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