title: Metabolomics reveals stage-specific metabolic pathways   of microbial communities in two-stage anaerobic   fermentation of corn-stalk.
abstract: Analysis of intracellular metabolites is essential to delineate metabolic pathways of microbial communities for evaluation and optimization of anaerobic fermentation processes. The metabolomics are reported for a microbial community during two stages of anaerobic fermentation of corn stalk in a biogas digester using GC–MS. Acetonitrile/methanol/water (2:2:1, by vol) was the best extraction solvent for microbial community analysis because it yielded the largest number of peaks (>200), the highest mean summed value of identified metabolites (23) and the best reproducibility with a coefficient of variation of 30 % among four different extraction methods. Inter-stage comparison of metabolite profiles showed increased levels of sugars and sugar alcohols during methanogenesis and fatty acids during acidogenesis. Identification of stage-specific metabolic pathways using metabolomics can therefore assist in monitoring and optimization of the microbial community for increased biogas production during anaerobic fermentation.
authors.forename: Dawei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xiaolei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Xiaoshuang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Shujuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lian
authors.forename: Jiangtao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Rongbo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D056804:Biofuels; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D005285:Fermentation; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D055442:Metabolome; D059013:Microbial Consortia; D003313:Zea mays / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels