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Comparison of the Bacterial Communities in Anaerobic, Anoxic, and Oxic Chambers of a Pilot A2O Process Using Pyrosequencing Analysis

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Abstract

A2O process is a sequential wastewater treatment process that uses anaerobic, anoxic, and oxic chambers for nitrogen and phosphorus removal. In this study, the bacterial communities among these chambers were compared, and the diversity of the bacteria involved in nitrogen and phosphorus removal was surveyed. A pilot-scale A2O process (50 m3 day−1) was operated for more than 6 months, and bacterial 16S rRNA gene diversity was analyzed using pyrosequencing. A total of 7,447 bacterial sequence reads were obtained from anaerobic (1,546), anoxic (2,158), and oxic (3,743) chambers. Even though there were differences in the atmospheric condition and functionality, no prominent differences could be found in the bacterial community of the three chambers of the pilot A2O process. All sequence reads, which were taxonomically analyzed using the Eztaxon-e database, were assigned into 638 approved or tentative genera. Among them, about 72.2 % of the taxa were contained in the phyla Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Phosphate-accumulating bacteria, Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis, and two other Accumulibacter were found to constitute 3.1 % of the identified genera. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, Nitrosomonas oligotropha, and four other phylotypes in the same family, Nitrosomonadaceae, constituted 0.2 and 0.9 %, respectively. Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, Nitrospira defluvii, and other three phylotypes in the same family, Nitrospiraceae, constituted 2.5 and 0.1 %, respectively. In addition, Dokdonella and a phylotype of the phylum Chloroflexi, function in nitrogen and/or phosphate removal of which have not been reported in the A2O process, constituted the first and third composition among genera at 4.3 and 3.8 %, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by research funding from Hanyang University (HY-2011-T) and the R&D Program of MKE/KEIT [10037331, Development of Core Water Treatment Technologies based on the Intelligent BT-NT-IT Fusion Platform].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy Materials and Process, BK 21, Hanyang University, 17 Hangdang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 133-791, Republic of Korea

    Byung-Chun Kim

  2. Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, 39-1 Hawolgok-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 136-791, Republic of Korea

    Seil Kim

  3. Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul, 90 Jeonnong-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 130-743, Republic of Korea

    Taesub Shin & Hyunook Kim

  4. Departments of Chemical Engineering and Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Technology, Hanyang University, 17 Hangdang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 133-791, Republic of Korea

    Byoung-In Sang

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  1. Byung-Chun Kim
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Correspondence to Byoung-In Sang.

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Byung-Chun Kim, Seil Kim contributed equally to this study.

The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the pyrosequencing data of partial 16S rRNA gene sequences of the bacteria in mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) from a pilot A2O reactor is SRA050633.

Tables representing the diversities of the genus and species in the biomass of anaerobic, anoxic, and oxic chambers in this A2O process are available online as supplementary material.

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Kim, BC., Kim, S., Shin, T. et al. Comparison of the Bacterial Communities in Anaerobic, Anoxic, and Oxic Chambers of a Pilot A2O Process Using Pyrosequencing Analysis. Curr Microbiol 66, 555–565 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-013-0311-z

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