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Microbial diversity differences within aerobic granular sludge and activated sludge flocs

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

In this study, we investigated during 400 days the microbial community variations as observed from 16S DNA gene DGGE banding patterns from an aerobic granular sludge pilot plant as well as the from a full-scale activated sludge treatment plant in Epe, the Netherlands. Both plants obtained the same wastewater and had the same relative hydraulic variations and run stable over time. For the total bacterial population, a similarity analysis was conducted showing that the community composition of both sludge types was very dissimilar. Despite this difference, general bacterial population of both systems had on average comparable species richness, entropy, and evenness, suggesting that different bacteria were sharing the same functionality. Moreover, multi-dimensional scaling analysis revealed that the microbial populations of the flocculent sludge system moved closely around the initial population, whereas the bacterial population in the aerobic granular sludge moved away from its initial population representing a permanent change. In addition, the ammonium-oxidizing community of both sludge systems was studied in detail showing more unevenness than the general bacterial community. Nitrosomonas was the dominant AOB in flocculent sludge, whereas in granular sludge, Nitrosomonas and Nitrosospira were present in equal amounts. A correlation analysis of process data and microbial data from DGGE gels showed that the microbial diversity shift in ammonium-oxidizing bacteria clearly correlated with fluctuations in temperature.

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Acknowledgments

This study is partly funded by DHV and STOWA in the framework of the Dutch National Nereda® research programme. Thanks to Kartik Chandran from the Columbia University for the supply of genomic DNA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC, Delft, The Netherlands

    M-K H. Winkler, R. Kleerebezem, P. J. T. Verheijen, B. Abbas, J. Habermacher & M. C. M. van Loosdrecht

  2. DHV, Laan 1914 35, 3818 EX, Amersfoort, The Netherlands

    L. M. M. de Bruin

  3. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Federal Polytechnical Highschool Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

    J. Habermacher

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  1. M-K H. Winkler
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  2. R. Kleerebezem
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Correspondence to M-K H. Winkler.

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Winkler, MK.H., Kleerebezem, R., de Bruin, L.M.M. et al. Microbial diversity differences within aerobic granular sludge and activated sludge flocs. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97, 7447–7458 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4472-7

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