Feedstock type influences bacterial and methanogenic communities in anaerobic digestion. These two communities work tightly to maintain the stability of anaerobic digestion. How to quick report the changes of microbial community structure especially methanogenesis is the key issue for optimizing anaerobic digestion process. In this study, 13C isotope fractionations of CH4 and CO2 in biogas and microbial community composition were analyzed in 5 different feedstocks. Our results showed that grass silage, maize silage and swine manure fed reactors had similar δ 13C values and methanogenic community composition, dominated by Methanosarcinaceae. The lowest δ 13CH4 values were detected in straw and chicken manure fed reactors, reflecting reduced microbial degradation of material or the presence of toxic components in these feedstocks. The straw fed bioreactor lead to low δ 13CH4 values, probably reflecting relatively high levels of the syntrophic acetate oxidizing bacteria, Synergistaceae and Syntrophaceae, which might work collectively with hydrogenotrophic methanogens, resulting in the low δ 13CH4 values in this bioreactor. Significantly, all core microbes in the 5 different feedstock fed bioreactors were either Clostridia species or related to the Synergistaceae (syntrophic acetate oxidizing bacteria).

Department of Applied Ecology Faculty of Environmental Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 16500 Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences School of Biological Sciences University of Edinburgh King's Buildings Edinburgh EH9 3JH UK

Jiangsu Normal University Edinburgh University Centre for Transformative Biotechnology of Medicinal and Food Plants Jiangsu Normal University 101 Shanghai Road Xuzhou China

The Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plants of Jiangsu Province Jiangsu Normal University Shanghai Road 101 221116 Xuzhou China

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