Bacterial community analysis of an industrial wastewater treatment plant in Colombia with screening for lipid-degrading microorganisms

Abstract

The operation of wastewater treatment technologies depends on a combination of physical, chemical and biological factors. Microorganisms present in wastewater treatment plants play essential roles in the degradation and removal of organic waste and xenobiotic pollutants. Several microorganisms have been used in complementary treatments to process effluents rich in fats and oils. Microbial lipases have received significant industrial attention because of their stability, broad substrate specificity, high yields, and regular supply, as well as the fact that the microorganisms producing them grow rapidly on inexpensive media. In Colombia, bacterial community studies have focused on populations of cultivable nitrifying, heterotrophic and nitrogen-fixing bacteria present in constructed wetlands. In this study, culture-dependent methods, culture-independent methods (TTGE, RISA) and enzymatic methods were used to estimate bacterial diversity, to monitor temporal and spatial changes in bacterial communities, and to screen microorganisms that presented lipolytic activity. The dominant microorganisms in the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) examined in this study belonged to the phyla Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. The enzymatic studies performed indicated that five bacterial isolates and three fungal isolates possessed the ability to degrade lipids; additionally, the Serratia, Kosakonia and Mucor genera presented lipase-mediated transesterification activity. The implications of these findings in regard to possible applications are discussed later in this paper. Our results indicate that there is a wide diversity of aerobic Gram-negative bacteria inhabiting the different sections of the WWTP, which could indicate its ecological condition, functioning and general efficiency.

Analysis of Bacterial Community Characteristics, Abundance of Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes Along a Pollution Gradient of Ba River in Xi’an, China

“…Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were proved to be the dominant components in this study. Similar results in sediment samples were also found in WWTPs in Colombia and China (Silva-Bedoya et al, 2016; Guo et al, 2017). Within the Proteobacteria phylum, Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria class were significantly enriched in W4, whose sampling site is close to the confluence of Ba River and Chan River which is also received wastewater from WWTPs (Zhang et al, 2015).…”

Metagenomics Study of the Microbes in Constructed Wetland System Treating Sewage

“…Many researchers concluded that Eurotiomycetes is capable of surviving in extreme conditions and produce extracellular and hydrolytic enzymes [30]. [31]. Dothideomycetes is capable of digesting plant litter.…”

Production of Cold-Active Lipase by Free and Immobilized Marine Bacillus cereus HSS: Application in Wastewater Treatment

“…Lipases and microbial strains represent green alternatives for wastewater treatment and can have an effect on reducing the oil and fat content in the wastewater; they may assist in controlling severe pollution problems caused by wastewater. Many previous studies have reported the use of lipolytic enzymes for wastewater treatment (Sarac and Ugur, 2015; Silva-Bedoya et al, 2016; Hu et al, 2018). …”