title: Involvement of ATP and autoinducer-2 in aerobic granulation.
abstract: Aerobic granulation represents an important bacterium-to-bacterium self-immobilization process that has been exploited for the treatment of a wide spectrum of wastewaters, but the mechanism behind still remains unclear in a microbiological sense. This study investigated the possible involvement of ATP and autoinducer-2 (AI-2) in aerobic granulation. Results revealed that initiation of microbial aggregation is closely associated with the ATP content of biomass, whereas AI-2 of biomass would be essential for maturation of aerobic granules. Furthermore, it was found that the AI-2-associated coordination of microorganisms in microbial aggregates would be biomass density dependent. This study clearly shows the involvement of ATP and autoinducer-2 in aerobic granulation, and may be exploited further for enhancement or prevention of microbial aggregation in general, for example, rapid granulation for wastewater treatment or inhibition of biofouling in membrane bioreactor.
authors.affiliation: Division of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yanghui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism*; D001420:Bacteria, Aerobic; D019149:Bioreactors; D006714:Homoserine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D007783:Lactones / Q000378:metabolism*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D053038:Quorum Sensing
chemical_list: D007783:Lactones; C091088:N-octanoylhomoserine lactone; D006714:Homoserine; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate