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Interactions Between Autotrophic and Heterotrophic Strains Improve CO2 Fixing Efficiency of Non-photosynthetic Microbial Communities

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Abstract

Five autotrophic strains isolated from non-photosynthetic microbial communities (NPMCs), which were screened from oceans with high CO2 fixing capability, were identified as Ochrobactrum sp. WH-2, Stenotrophomonas sp. WH-11, Ochrobactrum sp. WH-13, Castellaniella sp. WH-14, and Sinomicrobium oceani WH-15. The CO2 fixation pathways of all these strains were Calvin-Benson-Bassham pathway. These strains could metabolize multifarious organic compounds, which allowed switching them to autotrophic culture after enrichment in heterotrophic culture. The central composite response surface method indicated that these strains possessed many interactive effects, which increased the CO2 fixing efficiency of a combined community composed of these strains by 56 %, when compared with that of the single strain. Furthermore, another combined community composed of these autotrophic strains and NPMC had richer interactive relationships, with CO2 fixing efficiency being 894 % higher than that of the single strain and 148 % higher than the theoretical sum of the CO2 fixing efficiency of each of its microbial components. The interaction between strictly heterotrophic bacteria in NPMC and isolated autotrophic strains played a crucial role in improving the CO2 fixing efficiency, which not only eliminated self-restraint of organic compounds generated during the growth of autotrophic bacteria but also promoted its autotrophic pathway.

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Acknowledgments

The work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 21177093 and No. 21307093; National High Technology Research and Development Program of China, No. 2012AA050101; Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China, No. 20130072110025; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, No. 2013M531220 and No. 2014T70430; Scientific Research Projects of Shanghai Science and Technology Committee, No. 14540500600; and Program for Professor of Special Appointment at Shanghai (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Jiajun Hu, Lei Wang, Xuefei Xi, Yiquan Le & Xiaohua Fu

  2. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Bio-Energy Crops, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Jiajun Hu & Mintian Gao

  3. Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering Center, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201210, China

    Shiping Zhang

  4. Department of Science and Environmental Studies, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, 999077, China

    Yiufai Tsang

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  1. Jiajun Hu
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Correspondence to Lei Wang.

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Hu, J., Wang, L., Zhang, S. et al. Interactions Between Autotrophic and Heterotrophic Strains Improve CO2 Fixing Efficiency of Non-photosynthetic Microbial Communities. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 176, 1459–1471 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-015-1657-4

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