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ORNL Clostridium-Desulfovibrio-Geobacter Trophic Model Community

A three-species anaerobic continuous-culture model community established to study trophic and electron-acceptor interactions relevant to subsurface anaerobic environments. Clostridium cellulolyticum ferments cellobiose, while Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough and Geobacter sulfurreducens depend on fermentation products and use sulfate and fumarate, respectively, as supplied electron acceptors.

Taxonomy

Taxon Ontology ID Functional Roles Abundance
Clostridium cellulolyticum NCBITaxon:1521
PRIMARY_DEGRADER CROSS_FEEDER
DOMINANT
Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough NCBITaxon:882
SYNTROPHIC_PARTNER CROSS_FEEDER
COMMON
Geobacter sulfurreducens NCBITaxon:35554
SYNTROPHIC_PARTNER CROSS_FEEDER
COMMON

Ecological Interactions

Ecological interaction network for ORNL Clostridium-Desulfovibrio-Geobacter Trophic Model Community 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

Cellobiose Fermentation Supports Partner Growth

CROSS_FEEDING

Source Taxon: Clostridium cellulolyticum

Target Taxon: Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough and Geobacter sulfurreducens

Metabolites: cellobiose (CHEBI:17057)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

Sulfate-Linked Dependence of D. vulgaris

SYNTROPHY

Source Taxon: Clostridium cellulolyticum

Target Taxon: Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough

Metabolites: sulfate (CHEBI:16189)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

Fumarate-Linked Dependence of G. sulfurreducens

CROSS_FEEDING

Source Taxon: Clostridium cellulolyticum

Target Taxon: Geobacter sulfurreducens

Metabolites: fumarate (CHEBI:18012)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

Electron Donor and Acceptor Limitation

NICHE_PARTITIONING

Source Taxon: Clostridium cellulolyticum

Target Taxon: three-species model community

Biological Processes:

Evidence

External Resources

Name Repository Resource ID
Exact-system primary publication - ORNL anaerobic three-species model community
Primary open-access publication establishing the C. cellulolyticum, D. vulgaris Hildenborough, and G. sulfurreducens continuous-culture model community.
OTHER doi:10.1186/1471-2180-10-149
Same-composition computational publication - OptCom model-community case study
Computational OptCom paper that includes a model-community case study for the same C. cellulolyticum, D. vulgaris Hildenborough, and G. sulfurreducens species composition.
OTHER PMID:22319433
  • PMID:22319433 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "inter-species metabolite and electron transfer in a model microbial community"

Environmental Factors

Factor Value Unit
Anaerobic continuous-culture operation continuous culture N/A
Electron acceptor partitioning sulfate supplied for D. vulgaris; fumarate supplied for G. sulfurreducens N/A
Subsurface anaerobic-environment model trophic and electron-accepting interactions of subsurface anaerobic environments N/A

Growth Media