# Metagenomic analysis for the microbial consortium of anaerobic CO oxidizers

## TL;DR

This paper uses metagenomics to study microbes that consume carbon monoxide in anaerobic sludge, identifying key bacterial groups and their efficiency in converting CO to methane.

## Contribution

The study identifies a stable microbial consortium for anaerobic CO oxidation and quantifies its high CO conversion and methane production rates.

## Key findings

- Alphaproteobacteria, Clostridia, Betaproteobacteria, and Actinobacteria were the most abundant microbial groups.
- The microbial consortium achieved over 84% CO conversion with a peak CO consumption rate of 28.9 mmol CO/g VSS●day.
- Methane production reached 7.6 mmol CH4/g VSS●day over six semi-continuous cycles.

## Abstract

Metagenomics analysis has been applied to identify the dominant anaerobic microbial consortium of the carbon monoxide (CO) oxidizers in anaerobic sludge. Reads from the hypervariable V6 region in the bacterial 16s rDNA were aligned and finally clustered into operational taxonomic units (OTUs). The OTUs from different stages in anaerobic CO condition were classified. Alphaproteobacteria, clostridia, betaproteobacteria and actinobacteria were the most abundant groups, while alphaproteobacteria, betaproteobacteria and actinobacteria were variable groups. CO consumption and production efficiency of the microbial consortium were studied. Semi-continuous trials showed that these anaerobic CO oxidizers formed a stable microbial community, and the CO conversion rate was at over 84%, with the highest CO consumption activity of 28.9 mmol CO/g VSS●day and methane production activity at 7.6 mmol CH4/g VSS●day during six cycles.