Microbiome Digital Signature of MCR genes to study the diversity of methanogenic population in lab developed and Pilot-scale anaerobic digesters

In this study, a simulation was carried out using a lab modified anaerobic jar converted digester with that of a commercial/pilot scale anaerobic digester. Taxonomic profiling of biogas producing communities by means of high-throughput methyl coenzyme-M reductase 𝛼-subunit (mcrA) gene amplicon sequencing provided high-resolution insights into bacterial and archaeal structures of AD assemblages and their linkages to fed substrates and process parameters. Commonly, the bacterial phyla Chordata, Euryarchaeota, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria appeared to dominate biogas communities in varying abundances depending on the apparent process conditions. The genome sequence information of non-cultivable biogas community members, metagenome sequencing including assembly and binning strategies will be highly valuable in determining the efficacy of an anaerobic digester.