Microbial communities from electrochemical anaerobic reactors exposed to BTEX contamination

Microbial community functionality is a critical factor towards biodegradation enhancement of anthropogenic contaminated substances in soil ecosystems. Methanogens have an important role in enhancing the degradation rate keeping the hydrogen concentration low and the entire process thermodynamically favorable. While it is known that methanogenic hydrocarbon metabolism takes place, explicit metabolic partnerships in such systems are far from being understood. To capture community function, we used a combined reactor system that included an Anaerobic Bioreactor (AB) and two Microbial Electrolysis cell (MEC) chambers, each representing a different spatial zone along the redox gradient. This research aims to characterize key steps in the methanogenic activity taking place in native soil community following BTEX exposure in terms of the core microbial composition and interspecies interactions. This is achieved through a combination of integrated chemical-biological monitoring techniques and the utilization of genome-scale metabolic modeling. In our research we not only generated a simplified functional representation of the complex microbial community but also created a tool for formulating predictions that can be further supported by additional layers of experimental information.