Enrichment and Isolation of CO₂-Fixing Bacteria with Electrochemical Reducing Power as a Sole Energy Source

Bo Young Jeon, Il Lae Jung, Doo Hyun Park

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DOI: 10.4236/jep.2012.31007                

Abstract

Enrichment of bacteria capable of growing with electrochemical reducing power and CO₂ was accomplished using a plate-type electrochemical bioreactor (PEB). A bacterial source obtained from wastewater treatment reactant and forest soil was cultivated on carbonate-based mineral agar medium prepared in the PEB (PEB-carbonate agar). According to the pyrosequencing analyses, the abundance of Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria at the phylum level, and Achromobacter, Alcaligenes, and Pseudomonas at the genus level were selectively increased after the electrochemical enrichment culture. Finally, one genus of bacterium that was autotrophically grown on the PEB-carbonate agar was identified as Alcaligenes. This bacterium may be useful to fix atmospheric CO₂ with electrochemical energy obtained from the solar cell.

Keywords

Electrochemical Reducing Power; CO₂; Autotroph; Alcaligenes Sp; Pyrosequencing

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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