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Isolation and thermo-acclimation of thermophilic bacteria in hyperthermophilic fermentation system

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Abstract

Hyperthermophilic microorganisms play a key role in the hyper-thermophilic composting (HTC) technique. However, little information is available about the hyperthermophilic microorganisms prevalent in HTC systems, except for the Calditerricola satsumensis, Calditerricola yamamurae, and Thermaerobacter. To obtain effective hyper-thermophilic microorganisms, a continuous thermo-acclimation of the suitable thermophilic microorganisms was demonstrated in this study. Bacillus thermoamylovorans with high-temperature endurance (70 °C) were newly isolated from sludge composting, and an adequate slow heating rate (2 °C per cycle) was applied to further improve its thermostability. Finally, a strain with a maximum growth temperature of 80 °C was obtained. Moreover, structural and hydrophobic changes in cell proteins, the special amino acid content ratio, and the membrane permeability of the thermophilic bacterium after thermo-acclimation were evaluated for improved thermostability. In addition, the acclimated hyperthermophilic bacterium was further inoculated into the HTC system, and an excellent performance with a maximum operating temperature of 82 °C was observed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge that this work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22078194) and National Key Research and Development Program (2017YFE0127100).

Funding

Funding provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22078194) and National Key Research and Development Program (2017YFE0127100).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Zhiquan Wang, Deyi Wu, Xinze Wang & Hainan Kong

  2. School of Life and Environmental Science, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, 325035, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

    Suqing Wu, Chunzhen Fan & Xiangyong Zheng

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  1. Zhiquan Wang
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  2. Suqing Wu
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  3. Chunzhen Fan
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  4. Xiangyong Zheng
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  5. Deyi Wu
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  6. Xinze Wang
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  7. Hainan Kong
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Contributions

ZW: conceptualization, investigation, methodology, experiments and writing (original draft preparation). SW: article revision and supervision. CF: methodology and article revision. XZ: data collection and writing (review and editing). DW: methodology and investigation. XW: formal analysis and investigation. HK: methodology, writing (review and editing), supervision and funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Xiangyong Zheng or Hainan Kong.

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Wang, Z., Wu, S., Fan, C. et al. Isolation and thermo-acclimation of thermophilic bacteria in hyperthermophilic fermentation system. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 45, 75–85 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-021-02640-5

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