Prokaryotes-phage interactions in engineered bioreactors-a new paradigm in system microbial ecology.

工程生物反应器中的原核生物-噬菌体相互作用——系统微生物生态学的新范式。

• 批准号: 1804158
• 负责人: Ramesh Goel
• 金额: $ 34.23万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1804158&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Prokaryotes; phage; interactions; engineered; bioreactors

Bioreactors can remove contaminants from wastewater while providing valuable products such as biofuels. Bioreactor function relies on an appropriate bacterial community structure for efficient conversion of waste. However, the bacterial community can be affected by bacteria present in the incoming waste stream. A less known way that the bioreactor bacterial community can be affected is by the presence of bacteriophage, viruses that only infect bacteria. Although phages are known to affect bacterial populations in marine environments, very little is known about bacteria-phage interactions in engineered bioreactors. The proposed research will evaluate the role of bacteriophage life-cycle on bioreactor bacterial communities based on the basic science of bacteria-phage interactions. This research will also shed light on whether phages participate in gene transfer with the bacterial communities. Results from this research will help define mechanisms for the removal of nitrogen, carbon, and pollutants from waste streams to protect ecological and human health, while producing valuable products like biofuels to enhance the Nation's energy security.The overarching goal of this project is to study the genomic content of viruses infecting key bacteria from activated sludge processes (ASP) and anaerobic digester microbial communities in lab-scale reactors and anaerobic digesters. Three broad questions have been proposed: (1) What is the genomic content and diversity of viral communities infecting key ASP bacteria and microbiomes in organic waste valorization anaerobic bioprocesses?; (2) How does phage genomic content change with process configuration, and what is the role of phages during process upsets?; and (3) Are the bacteriophages present in ASP bioreactors and anaerobic digesters contributing to gene transfers between different prokaryotes? Three sets of lab scale reactors will be used to simulate commonly used treatment scenarios in the wastewater community. These reactors will be subjected to various external perturbations and disturbances to study bacteriophages dynamics in these reactors. High throughput sequencing of bacterial and phage DNA, followed by a genome extraction exercise, will allow the study of bacterial-phage interactions in engineered bioreactors. Overall, this project will answer several fundamental questions related to phages in engineered bioreactors and add to the science of wastewater treatment. The fundamental knowledge gained in this research will be applicable in other natural and engineered systems This research project will contribute to graduate and undergraduate education, and U.S graduate students will learn new techniques related to ecosystem research and virology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

生物反应器可以去除废水中的污染物，同时提供有价值的产品，如生物燃料。生物反应器的功能依赖于适当的细菌群落结构，以有效地转化废物。然而，细菌群落可能受到进入的废物流中存在的细菌的影响。生物反应器细菌群落受到影响的一种鲜为人知的方式是噬菌体的存在，噬菌体是只感染细菌的病毒。虽然已知细菌在海洋环境中会影响细菌种群，但对工程生物反应器中的细菌-噬菌体相互作用知之甚少。拟议的研究将基于细菌-噬菌体相互作用的基础科学来评估噬菌体生命周期对生物反应器细菌群落的作用。这项研究还将揭示细菌是否参与细菌群落的基因转移。这项研究的结果将有助于确定从废物流中去除氮、碳和污染物的机制，以保护生态和人类健康，同时生产生物燃料等有价值的产品，以提高国家的能源安全。该项目的总体目标是在实验室中研究感染活性污泥工艺（ASP）和厌氧消化池微生物群落的关键细菌的病毒的基因组含量，规模反应器和厌氧消化器。提出了三个广泛的问题：（1）在有机废物增值厌氧生物过程中，感染关键ASP细菌和微生物组的病毒群落的基因组含量和多样性是什么？(2)噬菌体基因组含量如何随工艺配置而变化，在工艺扰动过程中噬菌体的作用是什么？ASP生物反应器和厌氧消化器中存在的噬菌体是否有助于不同原核生物之间的基因转移？三套实验室规模的反应器将用于模拟废水社区常用的处理方案。这些反应器将受到各种外部扰动和干扰，以研究这些反应器中的噬菌体动力学。细菌和噬菌体DNA的高通量测序，随后进行基因组提取练习，将允许在工程生物反应器中研究细菌-噬菌体相互作用。总的来说，该项目将回答与工程生物反应器相关的几个基本问题，并增加废水处理科学。 在这项研究中获得的基础知识将适用于其他自然和工程系统这项研究项目将有助于研究生和本科生教育，美国研究生将学习与生态系统研究和病毒学相关的新技术。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持的评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。