Iron-mediated DAMO-anammox process: Revealing the mechanism of electron transfer

The nitrate denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation-anaerobic ammonia oxidation (DAMO-anammox) can accomplish nitrogen removal and methane (CH₄) reduction. This process greatly contributes to carbon emission mitigation and carbon neutrality. In this study, we investigated the electron transfer process of functional microorganisms in the iron-mediated DAMO-anammox system. Fe³⁺ could be bound to several functional groups (-CH₃, COO-, -CH) in extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), and the functional groups bound were different at different iron concentration. Fe³⁺ underwent reduction reactions to produce Fe²⁺. Most Fe³⁺ and Fe²⁺ react with microorganisms and formed chelates with EPS. Three-dimensional fluorescence spectra showed that Fe³⁺ affected the secretion of tyrosine and tryptophan, which were essential for cytochrome synthesis. The presence of Fe³⁺ accelerated c-type cytochrome-mediated extracellular electron transfer (EET), and when more Fe³⁺ existed, the more cytochrome C expressed. DAMO archaea (M. nitroreducens) in the system exhibited a high positive correlation with the functional genes (resa and ccda) for cytochrome c synthesis. Some denitrifying microorganisms showed positive correlations with the abundance of riboflavin. This finding showed that riboflavin secreted by functional microorganisms acted as an electron shuttle. In addition, DAMO archaea were positively correlated with the hair synthesis gene pily1, which indicated that direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) may exist in the iron-mediated DAMO-anammox system.