Author: Amelia Rotaru

News

New preprint from our lab

Post author By Amelia Rotaru
Post date July 15, 2018

In incubations originated from the sediments of a ferruginous, early Earth analogue lake, we were surprised to discover that the interspecies association between Youngiibacter and Methanothrix was strictly dependent on conductive particles. Here is a link to our paper.

The implication of this study is that mineral-syntrophy could be the relic of ancestral associations between protocells splitting metabolic tasks, prior to the evolution of a complex EET-apparatus required for today’s interspecies associations.

Methanogenesis on different substrates in incubations from lake La Cruz. Methane production in initial slurry incubations provided with different substrates was stimulated by conductive particles (GAC or magnetite) independent of the media used (a) modified DSMZ 120 or (b) DSMZ 334. (c) Acetate accumulated in incubations without conductive particles was significantly lower at the addition of conductive particles. (d) For example, a third transfer free of sediment showed that methanogenesis and acetate consumption were both strictly dependent of the presence of conductive particles (colored symbols), and ceased if conductive particles were not added consistently for subsequent transfers (white symbols).

News People

Xiaochen joined our lab

Post author By Amelia Rotaru
Post date July 10, 2018

Xiaochen Yang, is our new colleague for the next two months. Xiaochen has a PhD from the Danish Technological University and will do his internship on electrochemical systems and fluorescence microscopy techniques.

Welcome to the lab, Xiaochen!

News Research

New paper on odd partnerships fused by conductive particles and workshop in Wageningen

Post author By Amelia Rotaru
Post date May 4, 2018

Finally, great to see our BioRxiv paper just published by mBio. Also, SDU Nat’s press officer (Birgitte Svennevig) published a EurekaAlert and a press release on SDU’s website calling attention to our work. This work is a contribution to a project funded by the Danish Research Council in 2013.

Wageningen: a sneak peak at conductive particle-mediated syntrophy

Just before the paper was released I visited Wageningen University were I held a workshop and lecture on conductive particle-mediated syntrophy. It was an absolutely fantastic experience to lecture on syntrophy at a place where syntrophy has been studied for decades. The Wageningen visit was only possible thanks to A/Prof. Diana Sousa. Thank you Diana for the invite!

News

Outreach: Methanogens battle against radioactive contamination

Post author By Amelia Rotaru
Post date April 3, 2018

Morten Busch wrote a great outreach article about methanogens battling radionuclide contamination, in which our recent publication from Microbial Ecology has been featured.

Cite:

Busch M. 2018. Extreme microbes battle against radioactive contamination. ScienceNews.dk (Novo Nordisk Foundation)

Holmes, D.E., Orelana, R., Giloteaux, L., Wang, L.-Y., Shrestha, P., Williams, K., Lovley, D.R., Rotaru, A.-E., 2018. Potential for Methanosarcina to Contribute to Uranium Reduction during Acetate-Promoted Groundwater Bioremediation. Microb. Ecol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-018-1165-5

News People

New team member

Post author By Amelia Rotaru
Post date February 11, 2018

Daniel Jensen from Aarhus University will do a masters in our lab. The Masters will be under my supervision and that of Lars Ottosen. At SDU, Daniel will work on electrosynthesis and production of valuable chemicals from renewable resources.

Daniel has a BSc from the Department of Bioscience at Aarhus University, where he studied motility in cable bacteria. A year ago Daniel started a Master in Bioengineering at the Department of Engineering at Aarhus University.

Daniel, welcome to our SDU team!