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Desulfovibrio-Methanosarcina Lactate Syntrophy

Community ID CommunityMech:000150
Ecological State ENGINEERED
Environment anaerobic laboratory rumen-fluid coculture
ENVO:01001405

A classic anaerobic two-member syntrophic coculture in which Desulfovibrio desulfuricans degrades lactate in the absence of added sulfate and Methanosarcina barkeri consumes fermentation products for methanogenesis. Lactate is first degraded to acetate and methane; later acetate is converted to methane and carbon dioxide, illustrating how hydrogen and substrate dynamics regulate coupled lactate oxidation and methanogenesis.

Taxonomy

Taxon Ontology ID Functional Roles Abundance
Desulfovibrio desulfuricans NCBITaxon:876
PRIMARY_DEGRADER SYNTROPHIC_PARTNER
N/A
  • PMID:16345708 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "Desulfovibrio desulfuricans or Desulfovibrio vulgaris"
Methanosarcina barkeri NCBITaxon:2208
SYNTROPHIC_PARTNER CROSS_FEEDER
N/A
  • PMID:16345708 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "coculture with Methanosarcina barkeri"

Ecological Interactions

Ecological interaction network for Desulfovibrio-Methanosarcina Lactate Syntrophy 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

Lactate Degradation to Acetate and Methane

SYNTROPHY

Source Taxon: Desulfovibrio desulfuricans

Target Taxon: Methanosarcina barkeri

Metabolites: lactate (CHEBI:24996), acetate (CHEBI:30089), methane (CHEBI:16183)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:16345708 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "lactate was completely degraded, with almost stoichiometric production of acetate and CH(4)"

Acetate Conversion by Methanosarcina

CROSS_FEEDING

Source Taxon: Methanosarcina barkeri

Metabolites: acetate (CHEBI:30089), methane (CHEBI:16183), carbon dioxide (CHEBI:16526)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:16345708 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "Later, acetate was degraded to CH(4) and presumably to CO(2)"

Hydrogen Inhibition of Acetate Degradation

COMPETITION

Source Taxon: Desulfovibrio desulfuricans

Target Taxon: Methanosarcina barkeri

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

Evidence

  • PMID:16345708 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "H(2) produced by the Desulfovibrio species during growth with lactate inhibited acetate degradation"

Associated Datasets

Dataset Type Repository Accession
Desulfovibrio-Methanosarcina lactate syntrophy publication
Publication reporting lactate degradation, acetate dynamics, hydrogen effects, and methane production in Desulfovibrio-methanogen cocultures. 		PHENOTYPE OTHER PMID:16345708

Environmental Factors

Factor Value Unit
absence of added sulfate sulfate-free coculture condition N/A
  • PMID:16345708 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "grown in the absence of added sulfate"
rumen fluid vitamin medium rumen fluid-vitamin-based medium N/A
  • PMID:16345708 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "rumen fluid-vitamin-based medium"

Growth Media

anaerobic rumen fluid-vitamin medium

Atmosphere ANAEROBIC

Preparation notes: Sulfate-free anaerobic medium with rumen fluid and vitamins used for methanogenic growth experiments.

Evidence

PMID:16345708

"rumen fluid-vitamin-based medium"