Magnetite nanoparticles facilitate methane production from ethanol via acting as electron acceptors

Potential for interspecies hydrogen transfer within paddy soil enrichments obtained via addition of magnetite nanoparticles and ethanol (named as PEM) was investigated. To do this, PEM derived from rice field of Hangzhou (named as PEM-HZ) was employed, because it offered the best methane production performance. Methane production and Fe (III) reduction proceeded in parallel in the presence of magnetite. Inhibition experiments with 2-bromoethane sulfonate (BES) or phosphate showed that interspecies hydrogen transfer and Fe (III) reduction also occurred in methane production from ethanol. 16S rRNA-based Illumina sequencing results showed that Dechloromonas, Thauera, Desulfovibrio and Clostridium were the dominant putative Fe (III) - reducers, and that hydrogenotrophic Methanobacterium accounted for about 88% of the total archaeal community. These results indicated that magnetite nanoparticles that acted as electron acceptor could facilitate rapid oxidation of ethanol by members of the Fe (III) - reducers in PEM-HZ and establishment of the syntrophic relationship of Fe (III) - reducers with Methanobacterium via interspecies hydrogen transfer. Our results could offer a model to understand the microbial interaction with magnetite from a novel angle during methanogenesis.