Abstract. Four strains of new homoacetogenic bacteria were enriched and isolated from freshwater sediments and sludge with ethanol, propanol, 1,2-propanediol, or 1,2-butanediol as substrates. All strains were Gram-positive nonsporeforming rods and grew well in carbonate-buffered defined media under obligately anaerobic conditions. Optimal growth occurred at 27 ~ C around pH 7.0. H2/CO2, primary aliphatic alcohols C1-C5, glucose, fructose, lactate, pyruvate, ethylene glycol, 1,2-propanediol, 2,3-butanediol, acetoin, glycerol, and methyl groups ofmethoxylated benzoate derivates and betaine were fermented to acetate or, in case of primary alcohols C3-C5 and 1,2-propanediol, to acetate and the respective fatty acid. In coculture with methanogens methane was formed, probably due to interspecies hydrogen transfer. Strain WoPropl is described as a new species, Aeetobacterium carbinolicum. It had a DNA base composition of 38.5 _+ 1.0% guanine plus cytosine, and contained murein of crosslinkage type B similar to A. woodii.
Abstract. Ethanol, propanol, ethylene glycol, 1,2-propanediol, 1,2-butanediol, acetoin, diacetyl, and 2,3-pentanedione were used as substrates for enrichment and isolation of alcohol-oxidizing fermentative bacteria. Diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione proved to be highly toxic. With the other substrates, various kinds of bacteria could be isolated which were assigned to three different metabolic groups: (i) homoacetogenic bacteria, and (ii) bacteria forming propionate as reduced end product were isolated from freshwater sources; (iii) bacteria disproportionating acetoin and 1,2-diols to acids and primary alcohols were isolated from marine sediments.The latter oxidized primary alcohols to fatty acids in the presence of hydrogen-oxidizing partners. Syntrophically ethanol-oxidizing cocultures enriched with primary alcohols could be separated with 1,2-diols as substrates into an alcohol-oxidizing organism and a hydrogenoxidizing homoacetogen. The pathways of alcohol conversion in the disproportionating isolates were studied in detail. Growth experiments as well as enzymological studies demonstrated that acetoin and 1,2-diols were degraded via acetaldehyde which was also an intermediate in syntrophic oxidation of primary alcohols. The environmental importance of the various metabolic types isolated was assessed by most-probable-number enumerations.
Pool sizes, turnover times and turnover rates of ethanol and acetate in anoxic sediments of Lake Mendota and Knaack Lake and in anoxic sewage digestor sludge were determined by gas chromatography-gas proportional counting techniques. Ethanol accounted for 6, 14 and 2.5 % of the total carbon flux to methane in these environments, respectively. The distribution of labelled carbon in the methane and carbon dioxide fractions obtained during incubation of the anoxic materials with C-1 and C-2 labelled acetate and ethanol revealed a significantly higher degree of randomization with ethanol than with acetate tracers, HPLC analysis of sediment pore water preparations revealed that labelled acetate and propionate were formed as intermediates of labelled ethanol degradation, whereas no labelled butyrate was detected. Addition of hydrogen to Knaack Lake sediment samples inhibited ethanol degradation drastically and led to a significant accumulation of labelled butyrate. The above findings together with the results of most probable number enumerations of anaerobic ethanol-degrading bacteria indicate that propionate-forming bacteria contributed significantly to ethanol degradation in Knaack Lake sediment and in sewage sludge.Abbretliation: MPN, most probable number. 0001-2015 0 1985 SGM
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