title: Methanogenic population structure in a variety of anaerobic bioreactors.
abstract: The methanogenic community structures of six anaerobic sludges were examined using culture-independent techniques. The sludges were obtained from full-scale and laboratory-scale bioreactors, treating a variety of low- and high-strength, simple and complex wastewaters at psychrophilic (10-14 degrees C), mesophilic (37 degrees C) and thermophilic (55 degrees C) temperatures. Amplified rDNA restriction analysis identified 18 methanogenic operational taxonomic units in the six samples. 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic reconstruction demonstrated that five separate groups of methanogens were represented with Methanosaeta-like species dominant in all sludges, but particularly in samples from a psychrophilic bioreactor treating low-strength synthetic sewage (75% of all clones detected).
authors.affiliation: Microbial Ecology Laboratory, Microbiology Department, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McHugh
authors.forename: Micheal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carton
authors.forename: Thérèse
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mahony
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: O'Flaherty
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D001421:Bacteria, Anaerobic / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018533:Biomass; D019149:Bioreactors; D019605:Euryarchaeota / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012722:Sewage