Enrichment of Hydrogen Oxidizing Bacteria from High Temperature and Salinity Environments

Enrichment Pretreatment Expands the Microbial Diversity Cultivated from Marine Sediments

The majority of the microbial diversity in nature has not been recovered through cultivation. Enrichment is a classical technique widely used in the selective cultivation of specific taxa. Whether enrichment is suitable for cultivation studies that aim to recover large numbers of species remains little explored. To address this issue, we evaluated the potential of enrichment pretreatment in the cultivation of bacteria from marine sediments. Upon obtaining and classifying a total of 943 pure cultures from chitin and cellulose enrichment pretreatment systems and a control system, our results showed that species obtained using enrichment pretreatment differed greatly from those without enrichment. Multiple enrichment media and different enrichment times increased the number of cultivated species in a sample. Amplicon sequencing showed that the increased relative abundance during pretreatment contributed greatly to bacterial cultivation. The testing of degradation abilities against chitin and cellulose and the whole-genome sequencing of representative strains suggested that microorganism-microorganism interactions play roles in the expanded diversity of cultivated bacteria. This study provides new insights into the abilities of enrichment in exploring cultivable diversity and mining microbial resources.

Enrichment of halotolerant hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria and production of high-value-added chemical hydroxyectoine using a hybrid biological-inorganic system

Hybrid biological-inorganic (HBI) systems show great promise as CO2 conversion platforms combining CO2 fixation by hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria (HOB) with water splitting. Herein, halotolerant HOB were enriched using an HBI system with a high-ionic-strength medium containing 180 mM phosphate buffer to identify new biocatalysts. The reactors were inoculated with samples from saline environments and applied with a voltage of 2.0 V. Once an increase in biomass was observed with CO2 consumption, an aliquot of the medium was transferred to a new reactor. After two successive subcultures, Achromobacter xylosoxidans strain H1_3_1 and Mycolicibacterium mageritense strain H4_3_1 were isolated from the reactor media. Genome sequencing indicated the presence of genes for aerobic hydrogen-oxidizing chemolithoautotrophy and synthesis of the compatible solute hydroxyectoine in both strains. Furthermore, both strains produced hydroxyectoine in the reactors under the high-ionic-strength condition, suggesting the potential for new HBI systems using halotolerant HOB to produce high-value-added chemicals.

Hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria and their applications in resource recovery and pollutant removal

Hydrogen oxidizing bacteria (HOB), a type of chemoautotroph, are a group of bacteria from different genera that share the ability to oxidize H₂ and fix CO₂ to provide energy and synthesize cellular material. Recently, HOB have received growing attention due to their potential for CO₂ capture and waste recovery. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the biological characteristics of HOB and their application in resource recovery and pollutant removal. Firstly, the enzymes, genes and corresponding regulation systems responsible for the key metabolic processes of HOB are discussed in detail. Then, the enrichment and cultivation methods including the coupled water splitting-biosynthetic system cultivation, mixed cultivation and two-stage cultivation strategies for HOB are summarized, which is the critical prerequisite for their application. On the basis, recent advances of HOB application in the recovery of high-value products and the removal of pollutants are presented. Finally, the key points for future investigation are proposed that more attention should be paid to the main limitations in the large-scale industrial application of HOB, including the mass transfer rate of the gases, the safety of the production processes and products, and the commercial value of the products.

The Species Identification and Genomic Analysis of Haemobacillus shengwangii: A Novel Pathogenic Bacterium Isolated From a Critically Ill Patient With Bloodstream Infection

Since the first strain related to Thermicanaceae was reported in 1999, almost no literature on Thermicanaceae is available, particularly its genomics. We recently isolated a novel pathogenic bacterium, the ^△ strain DYY3, from the blood sample of a critically ill patient. The morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics of ^△ strain DYY3 were presented in this study, and the virulence factor genes and antibiotic resistance of DYY3 were also determined. Interestingly, the average nucleotide identity (ANI) and core-genes average amino acid identity (cAAI) analysis indicated that ^△ strain DYY3 was genus novel and species novel. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis based on both 16S rRNA gene and whole genomic core gene sequences suggested that ^△ strain DYY3 belonged to the family Thermicanaceae, and this novel taxon was thus named Haemobacillus shengwangii gen. nov., sp. nov. Besides, both the whole genome-based phylogenetic tree and amino acid identity analysis indicated that Thermicanus aegyptius, Hydrogenibacillus schlegelii, Brockia lithotrophica, and the newly discovered species H. shengwangii should belong to Thermicanaceae at the family level, and T. aegyptius was the closest species to H. shengwangii. We also constructed the first high-quality genome in the family Thermicanaceae using the next-generation sequencing (NGS) and single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing technologies, which certainly contributed to further genomics studies and metagenomic-based pathogenic detection in the future.