Print Email Facebook Twitter Seemingly trivial secondary factors may determine microbial competition Title Seemingly trivial secondary factors may determine microbial competition: a cautionary tale on the impact of iron supplementation through corrosion Author Stouten, G.R. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology) Hamers, Kelly (Student TU Delft) van Tatenhove-Pel, R.J. (TU Delft BT/Industriele Microbiologie; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) van der Knaap, E.D. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology) Kleerebezem, R. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology) Date 2021 Abstract Microbial community engineering aims for enrichment of a specific microbial trait by imposing specific cultivation conditions. This work demonstrates that things may be more complicated than typically presumed and that microbial competition can be affected by seemingly insignificant variables, like in this case the type of acid used for pH control. Aerobic bioreactors pulse fed with acetate operated with hydrochloric acid resulted in the enrichment of Plasticicumulans acidivorans, and changing the pH controlling agent to sulfuric acid shifted the community towards Zoogloea sp. Further research demonstrated that the change in community structure was not directly caused by the change in acid used for pH control, but resulted from the difference in corrosive strength of both acids and the related iron leaching from the bioreactor piping. Neither system was iron deficient, suggesting that the biological availability of iron is affected by the leaching process. Our results demonstrate that microbial competition and process development can be affected dramatically by secondary factors related to nutrient supply and bioavailability, and is way more complex than generally assumed in a single carbon substrate limited process. Subject bioavailability ironcorrosionenrichmentsmicrobial competitionPHA To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:6d00be6a-c448-4900-9100-1cd06cb3264e DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiab002 ISSN 0168-6496 Source FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 97 (2) Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2021 G.R. Stouten, Kelly Hamers, R.J. van Tatenhove-Pel, E.D. van der Knaap, R. Kleerebezem Files PDF fiab002.pdf 1.76 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:6d00be6a-c448-4900-9100-1cd06cb3264e/datastream/OBJ/view