Syntrophic acetogenic bacteria

PHA synthesis has been advanced as an energy-producing mechanism in anaerobic syntrophic (H2-producing, acetogenic) bacteria [159]. Extracellular PHBV degradation concurrent with sulfate reduction in anoxic lake-sediment samples was seen by Urmeneta et al. [160] as an indication that PHAs could serve as carbon and electron sources. 

There has been considerable interest in the anaerobic degradation of propionate that is a fermentation product of many complex substrates, and syntrophic associations of acetogenic and metha-nogenic bacteria have been obtained. 

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