Clostridium cluster I and their pathogenic members in a full-scale operating biogas plant

A biogas production plant operating with main and secondary digesters (MD, SD) was analysed for the diversity of bacteria from Clostridium cluster I and its pathogenic members. The plant was run in two parallel lines, both receiving silages, and one, in addition, cattle manure (CM). Quantitative PCR of 16S rRNA genes from directly extracted DNA indicated that cluster I represented 0.2 to 5.6 % of the total bacterial communities. Its prevalence was particularly low in CM and also in SD compared to MD, indicating its decline during fermentation. In contrast, another highly abundant clostridial group, i.e. the "faecal" cluster XIVa, remained quantitatively unaffected during fermentation. A total of 85.1 % of 581,934 rRNA gene sequences gathered by group-specific PCR from the silages, CM and digesters could be assigned to cluster I. All remaining sequences fell into other clostridial groups. The three most dominant operational taxonomic units (OTUs) introduced with CM were from cluster I, and they declined during fermentation. Fermentation with CM significantly increased OTUs of clostridia outside of cluster I but not within. The only OTUs related to pathogens were detected for Clostridium botulinum with 0.18 % of all cluster I sequences in maize silage and less than 0.01 % in the other substrates and digester materials. These OTUs could be assigned to all four established C. botulinum groups, thus, potentially covering all seven neurotoxins. Mouse lethality tests of samples with suspected presence of C. botulinum, however, indicated no toxigenic potential and, thus, no risk associated with the rare occurrence of these OTUs.