Dominance of endospore-forming bacteria on a Rotating Activated Bacillus Contactor biofilm for advanced wastewater treatment.
The bacterial diversity inherent to the biofilm community structure of a modified rotating biological contactor wastewater treatment process, referred to as the Rotating Activated Bacillus Contactor (RABC) process, was characterized in this study, via both culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. On the basis of culture-dependent methods, Bacillus sp. were found to exist in large numbers on the biofilm (6.5% of the heterotrophic bacteria) and the microbial composition of the biofilms was quite simple. Only three phyla were identified-namely, the Proteobacteria, the Actinobacteria (High G+C Gram-positive bacteria), and the Firmicutes (Low G+C Gram-positive bacteria). The culture-independent partial 16S rDNA sequence analysis revealed a considerably more diverse microbial composition within the biofilms. A total of eight phyla were recovered in this case, three of which were major groups: the Firmicutes (43.9%), the Proteobacteria (28.6%), and the Bacteroidetes (17.6%). The remaining five phyla were minor groups: the Planctomycetes (4.4%), the Chlorobi (2.2%), the Actinobacteria (1.1%), the Nitrospirae (1.1%), and the Verrucomicrobia (1.1%). The two most abundant genera detected were the endospore-forming bacteria (31.8%), Clostridium and Bacillus, both of which are members of the Firmicutes phylum. This finding indicates that these endospore-forming bacteria successfully colonized and dominated the RABC process biofilms. Many of the colonies or clones recovered from the biofilms evidenced significantly high homology in the 16S rDNA sequences of bacteria stored in databases associated with advanced wastewater treatment capabilities, including nitrification and denitrification, phosphorus accumulation, the removal of volatile odors, and the removal of chlorohydrocarbons or heavy metals. The microbial community structures observed in the biofilms were found to correlate nicely with the enhanced performance of advanced wastewater treatment protocols.
Park
Seong Joo
SJ
Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Daejeon University, Daejeon 300-716, Republic of Korea. psjj@dju.ac.kr
Yoon
Jerng Chang
JC
Shin
Kwang-Soo
KS
Kim
Eung Ho
EH
Yim
Soobin
S
Cho
Yeon-Je
YJ
Sung
Gi Moon
GM
Lee
Dong-Geun
DG
Kim
Seung Bum
SB
Lee
Dong-Uk
DU
Woo
Sung-Hoon
SH
Koopman
Ben
B
D039903:Actinobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D001407:Bacillus / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004725:Endospore-Forming Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D020560:Proteobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012722:Sewage