Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology – Micro-organism – per se ; compositions thereof; proces of... – Bacteria or actinomycetales; media therefor
Patent
1995-07-24
1997-07-15
Rollins, John W.
Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology
Micro-organism, per se ; compositions thereof; proces of...
Bacteria or actinomycetales; media therefor
4242821, 426807, 552208, 552210, A23K 118, C12N 120, C07C 5016
Patent
active
056482582
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF INVENTION
The invention relates to the use of anthraquinones as inhibitors of methane production in methanogenic bacteria.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Regulation of methane production by methanogenic bacteria has several important agronomic and environmental utilities. It has long been recognized that the regulation of methane production in cattle rumen has affected the efficiency with which cattle produce milk and beef from feedstocks. Additionally, there has been renewed environmental interest in the regulation of methane as a major greenhouse gas.
Microbial methane formation is a strictly anaerobic process which is carried out by a metabolically unique group of organisms generally known as the methanogenic bacteria. The group comprises the genera Methanococcus, Methanobacterium, Methanosarcina, Methanobrevibacter, Methanothermus, Methanothrix, Methanospirillum, Methanomicrobium, Methanococcoides, Methanogenium, and Methanoplanus. These bacteria are widely distributed in strictly anaerobic habitats including the rumen of ruminant animals, the termite gut, landfills, stagnant ponds, anaerobic digestors and rice paddies. The temperature range for growth may range from mesophilic temperatures up to extremely thermophilic temperatures.
The methanogens are highly interactive ecologically, and depend heavily on the metabolism of other bacteria to produce the substrates needed for their survival. Fermentative bacteria provide these substrates by conversion of complex macromolecules such as cellulose or protein into four principal methanogenic substrates: hydrogen, carbon dioxide, acetic acid, and formic acid. The methanogens then remove these fermentative end-products and convert them into gaseous methane and carbon dioxide.
The classic example of this type of association is termed "interspecies hydrogen transfer" wherein a hydrogen-producing organism generates hydrogen for the methanogen, and the methanogen then removes hydrogen which is actually inhibitory for the hydrogen producer. This is seen in the natural food chain where primary bacteria convert cellulose to various products including lactate, acetate, fatty acids, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and the methanogens then utilize the hydrogen and carbon dioxide to produce methane and water.
In marine or brackish waters where sulfate is abundant, cellulose is converted to carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB). These bacteria have a parallel metabolism to the methanogens and are able to utilize hydrogen and sulfate to produce hydrogen sulfide. In sewage treatment facilities and in freshwater bogs where sulfate concentrations are low, the SRB enter into a symbiotic relationship with the methanogens wherein the SRB produce hydrogen from organic acids and alcohols. The methanogens in turn convert the hydrogen to methane and carbon dioxide.
Even though methanogens are typically grown in the laboratory under an 80%/20% (vol/vol) hydrogen/carbon dioxide, in natural environments methanogens and SRB are exposed to and grow on only traces of hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The intermediary levels of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and acetate may be very low but the methanogens and sulfate-reducers are able to grow on these substrates liberated by the fermentation of sugars, organic acids (i.e., lactate, fatty acids) and alcohols.
There are at least two important utilities for inhibitors of methanogenesis. The first is the chemical manipulation of rumen fermentation as it occurs in ruminant animals such as cows and sheep, to divert microbial rumen metabolism away from methane formation and toward volatile fatty acid formation. Methane represents a caloric loss to the ruminant of 5-10% of its total caloric intake, and diversion of this energy into volatile fatty acids which the ruminant would use for nutrition would increase the efficiency of conversion of feedstocks into beef. An inverse relationship between methane formation and production of the volatile fatty acid, propionate, has been demonstrated by many investigators, and ther
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Bio-Technical Resources
Rollins John W.
Ware Deborah
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