Anode Bioaugmentation with an enriched Desulfuromonas-consortium.

In Microbial Fuel Cells, we explored the effect of community assembly processes when the anode surface was bioaugmented (i.e. pre-colonized) by a defined electroactive consortium (designated as E) 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.