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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2005, p. 7838-7845, Vol. 71, No. 12
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.12.7838-7845.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Coaggregation Facilitates Interspecies Hydrogen Transfer between Pelotomaculum thermopropionicum and Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus

Shun'ichi Ishii,1 Tomoyuki Kosaka,1 Katsutoshi Hori,2 Yasuaki Hotta,3 and Kazuya Watanabe1*

Marine Biotechnology Institute, Heita, Kamaishi, Iwate 026-0001,1 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Gokiso-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8555,2 Central Research Institute of Oral Science, School of Dentistry, Asahi University, Hozumi, Mizuho, Gifu 501-0296, Japan3

Received 14 June 2005/ Accepted 11 August 2005

A thermophilic syntrophic bacterium, Pelotomaculum thermopropionicum strain SI, was grown in a monoculture or coculture with a hydrogenotrophic methanogen, Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus strain {Delta}H. Microscopic observation revealed that cells of each organism were dispersed in a monoculture independent of the growth substrate. In a coculture, however, these organisms coaggregated to different degrees depending on the substrate; namely, a large fraction of the cells coaggregated when they were grown on propionate, but relatively few cells coaggregated when they were grown on ethanol or 1-propanol. Field emission-scanning electron microscopy revealed that flagellum-like filaments of SI cells played a role in making contact with {Delta}H cells. Microscopic observation of aggregates also showed that extracellular polymeric substance-like structures were present in intercellular spaces. In order to evaluate the importance of coaggregation for syntrophic propionate oxidation, allowable average distances between SI and {Delta}H cells for accomplishing efficient interspecies hydrogen transfer were calculated by using Fick's diffusion law. The allowable distance for syntrophic propionate oxidation was estimated to be approximately 2 µm, while the allowable distances for ethanol and propanol oxidation were 16 µm and 32 µm, respectively. Considering that the mean cell-to-cell distance in the randomly dispersed culture was approximately 30 µm (at a concentration in the mid-exponential growth phase of the coculture of 5 x 107 cells ml–1), it is obvious that close physical contact of these organisms by coaggregation is indispensable for efficient syntrophic propionate oxidation.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Marine Biotechnology Institute, Heita, Kamaishi, Iwate 026-0001, Japan. Phone: 81-193-26-6581. Fax: 81-193-26-6592. E-mail: kazuya.watanabe{at}mbio.jp.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2005, p. 7838-7845, Vol. 71, No. 12
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.12.7838-7845.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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