title: Diversity and dynamics of dominant and rare bacterial taxa in replicate sequencing batch reactors operated under different solids retention time.
abstract: In this study, 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing was applied in order to provide a better insight on the diversity and dynamics of total, dominant, and rare bacterial taxa in replicate lab-scale sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) operated at different solids retention time (SRT). Rank-abundance curves showed few dominant operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and a long tail of rare OTUs in all reactors. Results revealed that there was no detectable effect of SRT (2 vs. 10 days) on Shannon diversity index and OTU richness of both dominant and rare taxa. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis showed that the total, dominant, and rare bacterial taxa were highly dynamic during the entire period of stable reactor performance. Also, the rare taxa were more dynamic than the dominant taxa despite expected low invasion rates because of the use of sterile synthetic media.
authors.affiliation: Water Desalination and Reuse Research Center, Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Samik
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bagchi
authors.forename: Berenice G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Tellez
authors.forename: Hari Ananda
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lamendella
authors.forename: Pascal E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Saikaly
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D058448:Biota; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S