Ecogenomics reveals microbial metabolic networks in a psychrophilic methanogenic bioreactor treating soy sauce production wastewater

Up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor has been applied for the treatment of industrial wastewater containing high strength organic compounds; however, the performance of the treatment has significant potential for greater efficiency if the limited knowledge of metabolic capacity and interaction of anaerobic microbes in these systems is deepened. In this study, we perform 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, shotgun metagenomic sequencing and metatranscriptomic sequencing of a lab-scale anaerobic bioreactors treating soy sauce-processing wastewater to elucidate its microbial community structure and metabolic network of dominant microbial constituents, including syntrophic substrate oxidizing bacteria, methanogenic archaea, and fermentative organisms in the reactor.