Enrichment of novel Verrucomicrobia, Bacteroidetes, and Krumholzibacteria in an oxygen ‐limited methane‐ and iron‐fed bioreactor inoculated with Bothnian Sea sediments

In this study, we inoculated a bioreactor with methane ‐ and iron‐rich sediments from the Bothnian Sea to investigate microbial methane and iron cycling under low oxygen concentrations. Using metagenomics, we investigated shifts in microbial community composition after approximately 2.5 years of bioreactor operation. Marker genes for methane and ir on cycling, as well as respiratory and fermentative metabolism, were identified and used to infer putative microbial metabolism. Metagenome‐assembled genomes representing novelVerrucomicrobia,Bacteroidetes, andKrumholzibacteria were recovered and revealed a potential for methane oxidation, organic matter degradation, and iron cycling, respectively. This work brings new hypotheses on the identity and metabolic versatility of microorganisms that may be members of such functional guilds in coastal marine sediments and highlights that microorganisms potentially composing the methane biofilter in these sediments may be more diverse than previously appreciated.
Source: MicrobiologyOpen - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research