PRJNA384279
Identification of filamentous Chloroflexi morphotypes in Activated sludge plants
This study reports the identification of the Eikelboom morphotypes type 0041 and type 0675. Because these morphotypes differ only in their filament diameters, they are often considered together in surveys based on microscopic identifications. Here we show that they are phylogenetically distinct, and so should be viewed no longer as morphological variants of a single population. Amplicon sequencing data of Australian EBPR plant biomass containing types 0041 and 0675 was utilized to achieve this. Roche 454 amplicon data generated by the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF) V1-V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Analysis and FISH probes designed against several of these amplicon sequences indicated that these two morphotypes were members of the phylum Chloroflexi. Subsequent surveys of full-scale plant biomass samples showed these two filaments were common in these systems. However, considerable further diversity appears to exist and therefore should be a subject of further research.