Popis: |
Anaerobic digestion is gaining enormous attention due to the ability to covert organic wastes into biogas, an alternative sustainable energy. Methanogenic community plays a significant role in biogas production and also for proficient functioning of the anaerobic digester. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the methanogen diversity of a food waste anaerobic digester. After endogenous respiration, the digester samples were supplemented with isotopes of acetate to enrich methanogen population, and were analyzed using DNA-SIP (Stable-Isotope Probing). Following separation and fractionation of heavy (13C) and light (12C) DNA, PCR amplification was carried out using archaeal 16S rRNA gene followed by DGGE analysis. Sequencing of the prominent DGGE bands revealed the dominance of Methanocorpusculum labreanum species belonging to hydrogenotrophic Methanomicrobiales, which can produce methane in the presence of H2/CO2 and requires acetate for its growth. This is the first instance where Methanocorpusculum labreanum is being reported as a dominant species in an anaerobic digester operative on food waste. |