Investigation of total bacterial and ammonia-oxidizing bacterial community composition in a full-scale aerated submerged biofilm reactor for drinking water pretreatment in China

Abstract

The community composition of total bacteria and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in a full-scale aerated submerged biofilm reactor for drinking water pretreatment was characterized by analysis of 16S rRNA gene and the functional gene amoA, respectively. Sampling was performed in February and in July. 16S rRNA gene clone libraries revealed 13 bacterial divisions. At both sampling dates, the majority of clone sequences were related to the Alpha- and Betaproteobacteria. A minor proportion belonged to the following groups: Gammaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, Nitrospira, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Actinobacteria, Planctomycetes, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes and the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides group. Some sequences related to bacteria owning high potential metabolic capacities were detected in both samples, such as Rhodobacter-like rRNA gene sequences. Surveys of cloned amoA genes from the two biofilm samples revealed ammonia-oxidizing bacterial sequences affiliated with the Nitrosomonas oligotropha lineage, Nitrosomonas communis lineage. An unknown Nitrosomonas group of amoA gene sequences was also detected.

Cultivation of Uncultured Chloroflexi Subphyla: Significance and Ecophysiology of Formerly Uncultured Chloroflexi 'Subphylum I' with Natural and Biotechnological Relevance

“…Chloroflexi phylotypes have also been found in abundance in artificial and engineered ecosystems, such as lagoons (e.g., (97)), mine drainage (e.g., (73,79)), anaerobic sludges for waste and wastewater treatment (e.g., (2,12,17,19,25,30,43,51,57,58,64,66,71,74,76,90,94)), activated sludge systems (e.g., (3,8,13,25,42,45,47,55,56,60,62,77,80,98)), and microbial fuel cell systems (39,61). Among these ecosystems, waste/wastewater treatment facilities are perhaps the best-recognized habitat where Chloroflexi phylotypes reside in abundance.…”

Microbial Survey of a Full-Scale, Biologically Active Filter for Treatment of Drinking Water

“…The findings of Green and Lytle were based primarily on culture-dependent methods, with little use of culture-independent (molecular) methods by Green (C. N. Green, presented at Rice University, Houston, TX, 19 October 2007) (18,19). Molecular microbiological techniques used to characterize microbial communities in wastewater processes are a well-studied field; however, characterization of full-scale, biologically active water treatment systems for drinking water is limited (16,25,26,36,38). There is a clear need to better identify the diversity of bacterial communities, including the presence of human pathogens, in biologically active drinking water filters to improve the understanding of such a complex system.…”

Nitrogen removal and ammonia-oxidising bacteria in a vertical flow constructed wetland treating inorganic wastewater

“…Nitrosomonas nitrosa like sequences have often been isolated from systems with high ammonia concentration such as industrial wastewater treatment plants (Dionisi et al, 2002) and at the same time from low ammonia environments such as freshwater estuaries (Cebron et al, 2003) and a submerged biofilm for drinking water pretreatment in China (Qin et al, 2007). Nitrosomonas nitrosa-like sequences were abundant in the wetland cell 1 which receives highly variable NH 3 -N concentrations, corroborating the claims of ecological versatility for this group.…”

“…therefore Nitrosospira spp would be more likely to predominate in low ammonia environments (Schramm et al, 1996) and may be better at withstanding physicochemical variations (Purkhold et al, 2000). However, these findings are just indicative as other studies of systems receiving low ammonia waters (Qin, et al 2007;Regan et al, 2002) revealed that Nitrosomonas-like sequences were predominant over Nitrosospira-like sequences. Our T-RFLP results support the sequence data.…”

“…Nitrosomonas nitrosa strains have relatively high affinity constants for ammonia (Koops et al, 2006) and are regarded as having an ecological versatility which allows them to survive in a wide range of substrate conditions (Qin et al, 2007). Nitrosomonas nitrosa like sequences have often been isolated from systems with high ammonia concentration such as industrial wastewater treatment plants (Dionisi et al, 2002) and at the same time from low ammonia environments such as freshwater estuaries (Cebron et al, 2003) and a submerged biofilm for drinking water pretreatment in China (Qin et al, 2007).…”