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Promoting direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) to enhance syntrophic metabolism may be a strategy for accelerating the conversion of organic wastes to methane, but microorganisms capable of metabolizing propionate and butyrate via DIET under methanogenic conditions have yet to be identified. In an attempt to establish methanogenic communities metabolizing propionate or butyrate with DIET, enrichments were initiated with up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB), similar to those that were previously reported to support communities that metabolized ethanol with DIET that relied on direct biological electrical connections. In the absence of any amendments, microbial communities enriched were dominated by microorganisms closely related to pure cultures that are known to metabolize propionate or butyrate to acetate with production of H₂. When biochar was added to the reactors there was a …