OUR RESEARCH

Synthrophy

Syntrophy (Greek, eating together) describes a nutritional situation, in which two (or more) microorganisms combine their metabolic capabilities to degrade a substance not capable of being catabolized by either population alone. Each population requires the other population to make a living, and both partner benefit from this association (i.e., syntrophy is a mutualistic relationship or symbiosis).

As an example, we study the anaerobic degradation of dichloromethane (DCM) by a culture obtained from a pristine tropical forest in Puerto Rico. During DCM metabolism, the culture produces hydrogen, which inhibits further DCM degradation. Continued DCM degradation requires a hydrogenotrophic partner population that consumes hydrogen and maintains a low hydrogen partial pressure.