title: A flexible microbial co-culture platform for simultaneous utilization of methane and carbon dioxide from gas feedstocks.
abstract: A new co-cultivation technology is presented that converts greenhouse gasses, CH4and CO2, into microbial biomass. The methanotrophic bacterium, Methylomicrobium alcaliphilum 20z, was coupled to a cyanobacterium, Synechococcus PCC 7002 via oxygenic photosynthesis. The system exhibited robust growth on diverse gas mixtures ranging from biogas to those representative of a natural gas feedstock. A continuous processes was developed on a synthetic natural gas feed that achieved steady-state by imposing coupled light and O2limitations on the cyanobacterium and methanotroph, respectively. Continuous co-cultivation resulted in an O2depleted reactor and does not require CH4/O2mixtures to be fed into the system, thereby enhancing process safety considerations over traditional methanotroph mono-culture platforms. This co-culture technology is scalable with respect to its ability to utilize different gas streams and its biological components constructed from model bacteria that can be metabolically customized to produce a range of biofuels and bioproducts.
authors.affiliation: Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Eric A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
authors.forename: William B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Chrisler
authors.affiliation: Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Alex S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Beliaev
authors.affiliation: Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA; The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA. Electronic address: Hans.Bernstein@pnnl.gov.
authors.forename: Hans C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Bernstein
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D061249:Batch Cell Culture Techniques; D056804:Biofuels / Q000382:microbiology; D018533:Biomass; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D018920:Coculture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D008697:Methane / Q000378:metabolism*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D010788:Photosynthesis; D046940:Synechococcus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D008697:Methane; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Biogas; Carbon dioxide; Co-culture; Cyanobacteria; Methane; Methanotroph; Natural gas