Electroactive_Enrichment_consortium Metagenome. Electroactive_Enrichment_consortium

Here, we explored the effect of community assembly processes when an MFC anode surface was bioaugmented (i.e. pre-colonized) by a defined electroactive consortium (designated as DEC) on MFC startup; we hypothesize that this setting would enhance deterministic factors relative to stochasticity, which are instrumental in shaping the final community structure on the anode. By comparing two inoculation media, wastewater and filtered wastewater, we were able to illustrate two different source communities for newly-arriving species that with time colonized the anode surface, through which we observed dramatically different community assembly processes. As a control, a sterile anode was inoculated with wastewater. We show that by augmenting the anode surface with the enriched consortium, DEC, the microbial performance was dramatically stimulated to produce an outstanding rapid current only when supplemented with wastewater (maximal current reached within 2.8 days in comparison to 16 days by the control). Importantly, optimal performance was dependent on specific interspecies-interactions once newly-arriving species, provided through the wastewater, started to colonize the anode surface.