Metagenomics of Methanogenic Communities in Anaerobic Digesters

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion relies on complex microbial communities that closely interact in the anaerobic degradation of biomass and organic waste material to methane and carbon dioxide. The adoption of high-throughput molecular methods and the holistic “omics” approach in applied microbial ecology has greatly extended our view on the manifold metabolic diversity and trophic networks in the microbiomes thriving in anaerobic bioreactors. In this chapter, current concepts in metagenomics and microbial ecology of anaerobic digestion are described. Recent advances in gene-centric and genome-centric approaches and their application on lab-scale and production-scale biogas reactors have paved the way to a knowledge-based microbial resource management in anaerobic bioreactors. The adoption of systems biology principles in systems ecology of reactor microbiomes will open up new perspectives in process control and optimization of biotechnological processes relying on complex open mixed cultures.