Quantifying the effects of light intensity on bioproduction and maintenance energy during photosynthetic growth of Rhodobacter sphaeroides.

Obtaining a better understanding of the physiology and bioenergetics of photosynthetic microbes is an important step toward optimizing these systems for light energy capture or production of valuable commodities. In this work, we analyzed the effect of light intensity on bioproduction, biomass formation, and maintenance energy during photoheterotrophic growth of Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Using data obtained from steady-state bioreactors operated at varying dilution rates and light intensities, we found that irradiance had a significant impact on biomass yield and composition, with significant changes in photopigment, phospholipid, and biopolymer storage contents. We also observed a linear relationship between incident light intensity and H2 production rate between 3 and 10 W m(-2), with saturation observed at 100 W m(-2). The light conversion efficiency to H2 was also higher at lower light intensities. Photosynthetic maintenance energy requirements were also significantly affected by light intensity, with links to differences in biomass composition and the need to maintain redox homeostasis. Inclusion of the measured condition-dependent biomass and maintenance energy parameters and the measured photon uptake rate into a genome-scale metabolic model for R. sphaeroides (iRsp1140) significantly improved its predictive performance. We discuss how our analyses provide new insights into the light-dependent changes in bioenergetic requirements and physiology during photosynthetic growth of R. sphaeroides and potentially other photosynthetic organisms.

Ammonia-oxidizing microbial communities in reactors with efficient nitrification at low-dissolved oxygen.

Ammonia-oxidizing microbial communities involved in ammonia oxidation under low dissolved oxygen (DO) conditions (<0.3 mg/L) were investigated using chemostat reactors. One lab-scale reactor (NS_LowDO) was seeded with sludge from a full-scale wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) not adapted to low-DO nitrification, while a second reactor (JP_LowDO) was seeded with sludge from a full-scale WWTP already achieving low-DO nitrifiaction. The experimental evidence from quantitative PCR, rDNA tag pyrosequencing, and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) suggested that ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in the Nitrosomonas genus were responsible for low-DO nitrification in the NS_LowDO reactor, whereas in the JP_LowDO reactor nitrification was not associated with any known ammonia-oxidizing prokaryote. Neither reactor had a significant population of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) or anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) organisms. Organisms isolated from JP_LowDO were capable of autotrophic and heterotrophic ammonia utilization, albeit without stoichiometric accumulation of nitrite or nitrate. Based on the experimental evidence we propose that Pseudomonas, Xanthomonadaceae, Rhodococcus, and Sphingomonas are involved in nitrification under low-DO conditions.