Glycerol‐rich waste streams produced by the biodiesel, bioethanol and oleochemical industries can be treated and valorized by anaerobic microbial communities to produce methane. As current knowledge of the microorganisms involved in thermophilic glycerol conversion to methane is scarce, thermophilic glycerol‐degrading methanogenic communities were enriched. A co‐culture of Thermoanaerobacter and Methanothermobacter species was obtained, pointing to a non‐obligately syntrophic glycerol degradation. This hypothesis was further studied by incubating Thermoanaerobacter brockii subsp. finnii and T. wiegelii with glycerol (10 mM) in pure culture and with different hydrogenotrophic methanogens. The presence of the methanogen accelerated glycerol fermentation by the two Thermoanaerobacter strains up to 3.3 mM day⁻¹, corresponding to 12 times higher volumetric glycerol depletion rates in the methanogenic co‐cultures than in the pure bacterial cultures. The catabolic pathways of glycerol conversion were identified by genome analysis of the two Thermoanaerobacter strains. NADH and reduced ferredoxin formed in the pathway are linked to proton reduction, which becomes thermodynamically favourable when the hydrogen partial pressure is kept low by the hydrogenotrophic methanogenic partner.

中文翻译：

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与产甲烷菌一起共培养嗜热厌氧菌菌株可提高甘油转化率。

由生物柴油，生物乙醇和油脂化学工业产生的富含甘油的废物流可以通过厌氧微生物群落进行处理和增值以产生甲烷。由于目前尚不了解与热甘油转化为甲烷有关的微生物，因此丰富了热甘油降解产甲烷菌群落。的共培养嗜热和Methanothermobacter得到物种，指向到非专性互养甘油降解。通过孵育嗜热厌氧杆菌亚种进一步研究了该假设。finnii和T. wiegelii在纯培养物中加入甘油（10 mM），并使用不同的氢营养型产甲烷菌。两种产热厌氧菌在最高3.3 mM day ^-1的条件下，产甲烷菌能促进甘油的发酵，这对应于产甲烷菌共培养物中甘油的体积消耗率是纯细菌培养物中的12倍。通过对两个嗜热厌氧菌菌株的基因组分析，确定了甘油转化的分解代谢途径。在通道中形成的NADH和还原的铁氧还蛋白与质子还原有关，当氢营养型产甲烷伙伴将氢分压保持在较低水平时，质子还原在热力学上变得有利。