Microbial community composition and dynamics in a semi-industrial-scale facility operating under the MixAlco™ bioconversion platform.

AIMS: To monitor microbial community dynamics in a semi-industrial-scale lignocellulosic biofuel reactor system and to improve our understanding of the microbial communities involved in the MixAlco™ biomass conversion process. METHODS AND RESULTS: Reactor microbial communities were characterized at six time points over the course of an 80-day, mesophilic, semi-industrial-scale fermentation using community qPCR and 16S rRNA tag-pyrosequencing. We found the communities to be dynamic, bacterially dominated consortia capable of changing quickly in response to reactor conditions. Clostridia- and Bacteroidetes-like organisms dominated the reactor communities, but ultimately the communities established consortia containing complementary functional capacities for the degradation of lignocellulosic materials. Eighteen operational taxonomic units were found to share strong correlations with reactor acid concentration and may represent taxa integral to fermentor performance. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that the emergence of complementary functional classes within the fermentor consortia may be a trait that is consistent across scales, and they suggest that there may be flexibility with respect to the specific identities of the organisms involved in the fermentor's degradation and fermentation processes. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This study provides new information regarding the composition, dynamics and potential flexibility of the microbial communities associated with the MixAlco™ process and is likely to inform the improvement of this and other applications that employ mixed microbial communities.

Production of loline alkaloids by the grass endophyte, Neotyphodium uncinatum, in defined media.

Lolines (saturated 1-aminopyrrolizidines with an oxygen bridge) are insecticidal alkaloids produced in symbioses of certain Epichloë (anamorph-Neotyphodium) species (fungal endophytes) with grasses, particularly of the genera Lolium and Festuca. Prior to the present study, it was unknown whether lolines were of plant or fungal origin. Neotyphodium uncinatum, the common endophyte of meadow fescue (Lolium pratense=Festuca pratensis) produced loline, N-acetylnorloline, and N-formylloline when grown in the defined minimal media at pH 5.0-7.5, with both organic and inorganic nitrogen sources and sugars as carbon sources. In contrast, lolines were not detected in complex medium cultures. GC-MS and 13C NMR spectroscopic analyses confirmed the identity of the alkaloids isolated from the defined medium cultures. Lolines accumulated to ca. 700 mg/l (4 mM) in cultures with 16.7 mM sucrose and 15-30 mM asparagine, ornithine or urea. Kinetics of loline production and fungal growth were assessed in defined medium with 16.7 mM sucrose and 30 mM ornithine. The alkaloid production rate peaked after the onset of stationary phase, as is common for secondary metabolism in other microbes.

Contribution of fungal loline alkaloids to protection from aphids in a grass-endophyte mutualism.

Fungal endophytes provide grasses with enhanced protection from herbivory, drought, and pathogens. The loline alkaloids (saturated 1-aminopyrrolizidines with an oxygen bridge) are fungal metabolites often present in grasses with fungal endophytes of the genera Epichloë or Neotyphodium. We conducted a Mendelian genetic analysis to test for activity of lolines produced in plants against aphids feeding on those plants. Though most loline-producing endophytes are asexual, we found that a recently described sexual endophyte, Epichloë festucae, had heritable variation for loline alkaloid expression (Lol+) or nonexpression (Lol-). By analyzing segregation of these phenotypes and of linked DNA polymorphisms in crosses, we identified a single genetic locus controlling loline alkaloid expression in those E. festucae parents. We then tested segregating Lol+ and Lol- full-sibling fungal progeny for their ability to protect host plants from two aphid species, and observed that alkaloid expression cosegregated with activity against these insects. The in planta loline alkaloid levels correlated with levels of anti-aphid activity. These results suggested a key role of the loline alkaloids in protection of host plants from certain aphids, and represent, to our knowledge, the first Mendelian analysis demonstrating how a fungal factor contributes protection to plant-fungus mutualism.

Endophytic fungi in indigenous Australasian grasses associated with toxicity to livestock.

Grazing of Echinopogon spp. by livestock in Australia has caused symptoms similar to those of perennial ryegrass staggers. We observed an endophytic fungus in the intercellular spaces of the leaves and seeds of New Zealand and Australian specimens of Echinopogon ovatus. Culture of surface-sterilized seeds from New Zealand specimens yielded a slow-growing fungus. An examination in which immunoblotting and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used indicated that E. ovatus plants from Australia and New Zealand were infected with fungi serologically related to Neotyphodium lolii (the endophyte of perennial ryegrass) and other Epichloe and Neotyphodium spp. endophytic in pooid grasses. No lolitrems (the indole-diterpenoids implicated as the causative agents of perennial ryegrass staggers), peramine analogs, or ergot alkaloids were detected in the infected specimens by high-performance liquid chromatography or ELISA. However, in endophyte-infected E. ovatus plants from New Zealand, analogs of the indole-diterpenoid paxilline (thought to be a biosynthetic precursor of the lolitrems and related tremorgens) were detected by ELISA, and N-formylloline was detected by gas chromatography. Endophyte-free specimens of New Zealand E. ovatus did not contain detectable paxilline analogs or lolines and were more palatable than infected specimens to adults of the pasture pest Listronotus bonariensis (Argentine stem weevil). Hyphae similar to those of the E. ovatus endophyte were also found in herbarium specimens of Echinopogon nutans var. major, Echinopogon intermedius, Echinopogon caespitosus, and Echinopogon cheeli. This appears to be the first time that an endophytic Neotyphodium species has been identified in grasses endemic to New Zealand or Australia.