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Clostridium cellulovorans-Methanosarcina barkeri Cellulose Methane Coculture

Community ID CommunityMech:000174
Ecological State ENGINEERED
Environment anaerobic cellulose-fed laboratory serum bottle culture
ENVO:01001405

A defined anaerobic cellulose-to-methane coculture combining the cellulolytic fermenter Clostridium cellulovorans 743B with the metabolically versatile methanogen Methanosarcina barkeri Fusaro. C. cellulovorans degrades cellulose and produces methanogenesis precursors including hydrogen, formate, and acetate, while M. barkeri consumes those products for methanogenesis. The system is relevant to DOE bioenergy because it is an experimentally tractable model for renewable methane production from cellulosic biomass and for engineering anaerobic biomethanation consortia.

Taxonomy

Taxon Ontology ID Functional Roles Abundance
Clostridium cellulovorans 743B NCBITaxon:573061
PRIMARY_DEGRADER CROSS_FEEDER
ABUNDANT
  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "Clostridium cellulovorans 743B with Methanosarcina barkeri Fusaro"
  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "Clostridium cellulovorans 743B"
Methanosarcina barkeri Fusaro NCBITaxon:269797
SYNTROPHIC_PARTNER CROSS_FEEDER
ABUNDANT
  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "Clostridium cellulovorans 743B with Methanosarcina barkeri Fusaro"
  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "simultaneous utilization of hydrogen, formate, and acetate for methanogenesis"

Ecological Interactions

Ecological interaction network for Clostridium cellulovorans-Methanosarcina barkeri Cellulose Methane Coculture Bipartite graph where circle nodes represent taxa and colored rectangles represent ecological interactions (cross-feeding, mutualism, syntrophy, competition, commensalism).
Taxon
Cross-feeding
Mutualism
Syntrophy
Competition
Commensalism
Niche partitioning
Colonization facilitation
Strain competition
Predation

Cellulose Fermentation to Methanogenesis Precursors

CROSS_FEEDING

Source Taxon: Clostridium cellulovorans 743B

Target Taxon: Methanosarcina barkeri Fusaro

Metabolites: cellulose (CHEBI:18246), dihydrogen (CHEBI:18276), formate (CHEBI:15740), acetate (CHEBI:30089)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "produced by C. cellulovorans during cellulose degradation"
  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "Clostridium cellulovorans 743B"

Multi-Substrate Methanogenesis by M. barkeri

SYNTROPHY

Source Taxon: Methanosarcina barkeri Fusaro

Metabolites: dihydrogen (CHEBI:18276), formate (CHEBI:15740), acetate (CHEBI:30089), methane (CHEBI:16183), carbon dioxide (CHEBI:16526)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "simultaneous utilization of hydrogen, formate, and acetate for methanogenesis"
  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "methanogens in both cocultures were able to efficiently utilize"

Methanogen-Enabled Cellulose Degradation and pH Stabilization

MUTUALISM

Source Taxon: Methanosarcina barkeri Fusaro

Target Taxon: Clostridium cellulovorans 743B

Metabolites: dihydrogen (CHEBI:18276), acetate (CHEBI:30089)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "produced by C. cellulovorans during cellulose degradation"
  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "degradation was observed in both cocultures"
  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "stabilized pH for C. cellulovorans"

External Resources

Name Repository Resource ID
Exact-system primary publication - C. cellulovorans and M. barkeri cellulose-to-methane coculture
Primary open-access publication establishing the C. cellulovorans 743B and M. barkeri Fusaro coculture for direct conversion of cellulose to methane. 		OTHER PMID:28191038
  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "Clostridium cellulovorans 743B with Methanosarcina barkeri Fusaro"

Environmental Factors

Factor Value Unit
Cellulose substrate cellulose N/A
  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "direct conversion of cellulose to CH4"
Methanogen product utilization fermentation products consumed by M. barkeri N/A
  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "produced by C. cellulovorans during cellulose degradation"
pH stabilization stabilized pH relative to C. cellulovorans monoculture N/A
  • PMID:28191038 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "stabilized pH for C. cellulovorans"

Growth Media

Cellulose-fed methanogenic coculture medium

Atmosphere ANAEROBIC

Composition

Component Concentration Unit CHEBI
cellulose N/A N/A CHEBI:18246
carbon dioxide N/A N/A CHEBI:16526

Preparation notes: The record curates the abstract-supported cellulose-to-methane culture context; detailed mineral medium recipe parameters are not represented here.

Evidence

PMID:28191038

"direct conversion of cellulose to CH4"

PMID:28191038

"CH4 production from cellulose"