Abstract
Sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are important members of the sulphur cycle in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this study, we investigate the diversity and activity of SRB within the developing and established biofilm of two moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) systems treating municipal wastewater in New Zealand. The larger of the two WWTPs (Moa Point) generates high levels of sulphide relative to the smaller Karori plant. Clone libraries of the dissimilatory (bi)sulphite reductase (dsrAB) genes and quantitative real-time PCR targeting dsrA transcripts were used to compare SRB communities between the two WWTPs. Desulfobulbus (35–53 % of total SRB sequences) and genera belonging to the family Desulfobacteraceae (27–41 %) dominated the SRB fraction of the developing biofilm on deployed plastic carriers at both sites, whereas Desulfovibrio and Desulfomicrobium were exclusively found at Moa Point. In contrast, the established biofilms from resident MBBR carriers were largely dominated by Desulfomonile tiedjei-like organisms (58–100 % of SRB sequences). The relative transcript abundance of dsrA genes (signifying active SRBs) increased with biofilm weight yet remained low overall, even in the mature biofilm stage. Our results indicate that although SRB are both present and active in the microbial community at both MBBR study sites, differences in the availability of sulphate may be contributing to the observed differences in sulphide production at these two plants.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aislabie J, Jordan S, Ayton J, Klassen JL, Barker GM, Turner S (2009) Bacterial diversity associated with ornithogenic soil of the Ross Sea region, Antarctica. Can J Microbiol 55(1):21–36
Altschul SF, Gish W, Miller W, Myers EW, Lipman DJ (1990) Basic Local Alignment Search Tool. J Mol Biol 215(3):403–410
Ayton J, Aislabie J, Barker G, Saul D, Turner S (2010) Crenarchaeota affiliated with group 1.1 b are prevalent in coastal mineral soils of the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. Environ Microbiol 12(3):689–703
Ben-Dov E, Brenner A, Kushmaro A (2007) Quantification of sulfate-reducing bacteria in industrial wastewater, by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using dsrA and apsA genes. Microbial Ecol 54(3):439–451
Biswas K, Taylor MW, Turner SJ (2014) Successional development of biofilms in moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) systems treating municipal wastewater. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98(3):1429–1440
Biswas K, Turner SJ (2012) Microbial community composition and dynamics of moving bed biofilm reactor systems treating municipal sewage. Appl Environ Microbiol 78(3):855–864
Boetius A, Ravenschlag K, Schubert CJ, Rickert D, Widdel F, Gieseke A, Amann R, Jorgensen BB, Witte U, Pfannkuche O (2000) A marine microbial consortium apparently mediating anaerobic oxidation of methane. Nature 407(6804):623–626
Bourne DG, Muirhead A, Sato Y (2010) Changes in sulfate-reducing bacterial populations during the onset of black band disease. ISME J 5(3):559–564
Bryant M, Campbell LL, Reddy C, Crabill M (1977) Growth of Desulfovibrio in lactate or ethanol media low in sulfate in association with H2-utilizing methanogenic bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol 33(5):1162–1169
Chin KJ, Esteve-Núñez A, Leang C, Lovley DR (2004) Direct correlation between rates of anaerobic respiration and levels of mRNA for key respiratory genes in Geobacter sulfurreducens. Appl Environ Microbiol 70(9):5183–5189
Cord-Ruwisch R (1985) A quick method for the determination of dissolved and precipitated sulfides in cultures of sulfate-reducing bacteria. J Microbiol Meth 4(1):33–36
Dannenberg S, Kroder M, Dilling W, Cypionka H (1992) Oxidation of H2, organic compounds and inorganic sulfur compounds coupled to reduction of O2 or nitrate by sulfate-reducing bacteria. Arch Microbiol 158(2):93–99
Dar SA, Yao L, Van Dongen U, Kuenen JG, Muyzer G (2007) Analysis of diversity and activity of sulfate-reducing bacterial communities in sulfidogenic bioreactors using 16S rRNA and dsrB genes as molecular markers. Appl Environ Microbiol 73(2):594–604
Davis ML, Cornwell DA (1991) Introduction to environmental engineering. McGraw-Hill International Editions, New York
DeWeerd KA, Mandelco L, Tanner RS, Woese CR, Suflita JM (1990) Desulfomonile tiedjei gen. nov. and sp. nov., a novel anaerobic, dehalogenating, sulfate-reducing bacterium. Arch Microbiol 154(1):23–30
DeWeerd KA, Townsend GT, Suflita JM (2005) Desulfomonile. In: Brenner DJ, Boone DR, Staley JT, Garrity GM, Krieg NR, Goodfellow M, De Vos P, Rainey FA, Schleifer K-H (eds) Bergey’s Manual® of Systematic Bacteriology, vol 2, Springer. New York, USA, pp 1036–1039
Dhillon A, Teske A, Dillon J, Stahl DA, Sogin ML (2003) Molecular characterization of sulfate-reducing bacteria in the Guaymas Basin. Appl Environ Microbiol 69(5):2765–2772
Drinan JE (2001) Water and wastewater treatment: a guide for the nonengineering professional. CRC Press, USA
Felsenstein J (1995) PHYLIP-phylogeny inference package (version 3.6.3). Seattle, WA, USA: Department of Genetics, University of Washington
Foti M, Sorokin DY, Lomans B, Mussman M, Zacharova EE, Pimenov NV, Kuenen JG, Muyzer G (2007) Diversity, activity, and abundance of sulfate-reducing bacteria in saline and hypersaline soda lakes. Appl Environ Microbiol 73(7):2093–2100
Frank KL, Rogers DR, Olins HC, Vidoudez C, Girguis PR (2013) Characterizing the distribution and rates of microbial sulfate reduction at Middle Valley hydrothermal vents. ISME J 7(7):1391–1401
Imachi H, Sekiguchi Y, Kamagata Y, Hanada S, Ohashi A, Harada H (2002) Pelotomaculum thermopropionicum gen. nov., sp. nov., an anaerobic, thermophilic, syntrophic propionate-oxidizing bacterium. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 52(5):1729-1735
Isaksen MF, Teske A (1996) Desulforhopalus vacuolatus gen. nov., sp. nov., a new moderately psychrophilic sulfate-reducing bacterium with gas vacuoles isolated from a temperate estuary. Arch Microbiol 166(3):160–168
Ito T, Okabe S, Satoh H, Watanabe Y (2002) Successional development of sulfate-reducing bacterial populations and their activities in a wastewater biofilm growing under microaerophilic conditions. Appl Environ Microbiol 68(3):1392–1402
Joachimiak MP, Weisman JL, May BCH (2006) JColorGrid: software for the visualization of biological measurements. BMC Bioinforma 7(1):225–230
Kjeldsen KU, Loy A, Jakobsen TF, Thomsen TR, Wagner M, Ingvorsen K (2007) Diversity of sulfate-reducing bacteria from an extreme hypersaline sediment, Great Salt Lake (Utah). FEMS Microbiol Ecol 60(2):287–298
Koe LCC (1985) Ambient hydrogen sulphide levels at a wastewater treatment plant. Environ Monit Assess 5(1):101–108
Kondo R, Nedwell DB, Purdy KJ, Silva SQ (2004) Detection and enumeration of sulphate-reducing bacteria in estuarine sediments by competitive PCR. Geomicrobiol J 21(3):145–157
Kovacik WP, Scholten JCM, Culley D, Hickey R, Zhang W, Brockman FJ (2010) Microbial dynamics in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) bioreactor granules in response to short-term changes in substrate feed. Microbiology 156(8):2418–2427
Kühl M, Jørgensen BB (1992) Microsensor measurements of sulfate reduction and sulfide oxidation in compact microbial communities of aerobic biofilms. Appl Environ Microbiol 58(4):1164–1174
Laanbroek HJ, Geerligs HJ, Sijtsma L, Veldkamp H (1984) Competition for sulfate and ethanol among Desulfobacter, Desulfobulbus, and Desulfovibrio species isolated from intertidal sediments. Appl Environ Microbiol 47(2):329–334
Leloup J, Loy A, Knab NJ, Borowski C, Wagner M, Jørgensen BB (2006) Diversity and abundance of sulfate-reducing microorganisms in the sulfate and methane zones of a marine sediment, Black Sea. Environ Microbiol 9(1):131–142
Loy A, Küsel K, Lehner A, Drake HL, Wagner M (2004) Microarray and functional gene analyses of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes in low-sulfate, acidic fens reveal cooccurrence of recognized genera and novel lineages. Appl Environ Microbiol 70(12):6998–7009
Ludwig W, Strunk O, Klugbauer S, Klugbauer N, Weizenegger M, Neumaier J, Bachleitner M, Schleifer KH (1998) Bacterial phylogeny based on comparative sequence analysis. Electrophoresis 19(4):554–568
Ludwig W, Strunk O, Westram R, Richter L, Meier H, Yadhukumar A, Buchner A, Lai T, Steppi S, Jacob G, Förster W, Brettske I, Gerber S, Ginhart AW, Gross O, Grumann S, Hermann S, Jost R, König A, Liss T, Lüßbmann R, May M, Nonhoff B, Reichel B, Strehlow R, Stamatakis A, Stuckmann N, Vilbig A, Lenke M, Ludwig T, Bode A, Schleifer KH (2004) ARB: a software environment for sequence data. Nucleic Acids Res 32(4):1363–1371
Magurran AE (1988) Ecological diversity and its measurement, vol 168. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Marschall C, Frenzel P, Cypionka H (1993) Influence of oxygen on sulfate reduction and growth of sulfate-reducing bacteria. Arch Microbiol 159(2):168–173
McQuarrie JP, Boltz JP (2011) Moving bed biofilm reactor technology: process applications, design, and performance. Water Environ Res 83(6):560–575
Mitchell GJ, Jones JG, Cole JA (1986) Distribution and regulation of nitrate and nitrite reduction by Desulfovibrio and Desulfotomaculum species. Arch Microbiol 144(1):35–40
Mohanakrishnan J, Kofoed MVW, Barr J, Yuan Z, Schramm A, Meyer RL (2011) Dynamic microbial response of sulfidogenic wastewater biofilm to nitrate. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 91(6):1647–1657
Muyzer G, Stams AJM (2008) The ecology and biotechnology of sulphate-reducing bacteria. Nat Rev Microbiol 6(6):441–454
Nauhaus K, Albrecht M, Elvert M, Boetius A, Widdel F (2007) In vitro cell growth of marine archaeal-bacterial consortia during anaerobic oxidation of methane with sulfate. Environ Microbiol 9(1):187–196
Neretin LN, Schippers A, Pernthaler A, Hamann K, Amann R, Jørgensen BB (2003) Quantification of dissimilatory (bi)sulphite reductase gene expression in Desulfobacterium autotrophicum using real-time RT-PCR. Environ Microbiol 5(8):660–671
Nossa CW, Oberdorf WE, Yang L, Aas JA, Paster BJ, DeSantis TZ, Brodie EL, Malamud D, Poles MA, Pei Z (2010) Design of 16S rRNA gene primers for 454 pyrosequencing of the human foregut microbiome. World J Gastroenterol 16(33):4135–4144
Odegaard H, Rusten B, Westrum T (1994) A new moving-bed biofilm reactor - applications and results. Water Sci Technol 29(10–11):157–165
Okabe S, Satoh H, Watanabe Y (1999) In situ analysis of nitrifying biofilms as determined by in situ hybridization and the use of microelectrodes. Appl Environ Microbiol 65(7):3182–3191
Ontiveros-Valencia A, Ziv-El M, Zhao H-P, Feng L, Rittmann BE, Krajmalnik-Brown R (2012) Interactions between nitrate-reducing and sulfate-reducing bacteria coexisting in a hydrogen-fed biofilm. Environ Sci Technol 46(20):11289–11298
Pester M, Bittner N, Deevong P, Wagner M, Loy A (2010) A ‘rare biosphere’ microorganism contributes to sulfate reduction in a peatland. ISME J 4(12):1591–1602
Risatti J, Capman W, Stahl D (1994) Community structure of a microbial mat: the phylogenetic dimension. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 91(21):10173–10177
Rusten B, McCoy M, Proctor R, Siljudalen JG (1998) The innovative moving bed biofilm reactor/solids contact reaeration process for secondary treatment of municipal wastewater. Water Environ Res:1083-1089
Rusten B, Siljudalen JG, Nordeidet B (1994) Upgrading to nitrogen removal with the kmt moving-bed biofilm process. Water Sci Technol 29(12):185–195
Sanin DF (2004) Effect of solution physical chemistry on the rheological properties of activated sludge. Water SA 28(2):207–212
Santegoeds CM, Damgaard LR, Hesselink G, Zopfi J, Lens P, Muyzer G, de Beer D (1999) Distribution of sulfate-reducing and methanogenic bacteria in anaerobic aggregates determined by microsensor and molecular analyses. Appl Environ Microbiol 65(10):4618–4629
Santegoeds CM, Ferdelman TG, Muyzer G, De Beer D (1998) Structural and functional dynamics of sulfate-reducing populations in bacterial biofilms. Appl Environ Microbiol 64(10):3731–3739
Sass A, Rütters H, Cypionka H, Sass H (2002) Desulfobulbus mediterraneus sp. nov., a sulfate-reducing bacterium growing on mono-and disaccharides. Arch Microbiol 177(6):468–474
Saul DJ, Aislabie JM, Brown CE, Harris L, Foght JM (2005) Hydrocarbon contamination changes the bacterial diversity of soil from around Scott Base, Antarctica. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 53(1):141–155
Schramm A, Santegoeds CM, Nielsen HK, Ploug H, Wagner M, Pribyl M, Wanner J, Amann R, De Beer D (1999) On the occurrence of anoxic microniches, denitrification, and sulfate reduction in aerated activated sludge. Appl Environ Microbiol 65(9):4189–4196
Sedlak RL (1991) Phosphorus and nitrogen removal from municipal wastewater: principles and practice (2nd edition). Lewis publishers, New York, NY 10016, USA
Simister R, Taylor MW, Tsai P, Fan L, Bruxner TJ, Crowe ML, Webster N (2012) Thermal stress responses in the bacterial biosphere of the Great Barrier Reef sponge, Rhopaloeides odorabile. Environ Microbiol 14:3232–3246
Singleton DR, Furlong MA, Rathbun SL, Whitman WB (2001) Quantitative comparisons of 16S rRNA gene sequence libraries from environmental samples. Appl Environ Microbiol 67(9):4374–4376
Smith BY, Turner SJ, Rodgers KA (2003) Opal-A and associated microbes from Wairakei, New Zealand: the first 300 days. Mineral Mag 67(3):563–579
Spence C, Whitehead T, Cotta M (2008) Development and comparison of SYBR Green quantitative real-time PCR assays for detection and enumeration of sulfate-reducing bacteria in stored swine manure. J Appl Microbiol 105(6):2143–2152
Steger D, Wentrup C, Braunegger C, Deevong P, Hofer M, Richter A, Baranyi C, Pester M, Wagner M, Loy A (2011) Microorganisms with novel dissimilatory (bi)sulfite reductase genes are widespread and part of the core microbiota in low-sulfate peatlands. Appl Environ Microbiol 77(4):1231–1242
USEPA (1991) Hydrogen sulfide corrosion in wastewater collection and treatment systems. Report to Congress Washington, DC 20460
Villanueva L, Haveman SA, Summers ZM, Lovley DR (2008) Quantification of Desulfovibrio vulgaris dissimilatory sulfite reductase gene expression during electron donor-and electron acceptor-limited growth. Appl Environ Microbiol 74(18):5850–5853
Vincke E, Monteny J, Beeldens A, Belie ND, Taerwe L, Gemert DV, Verstraete W (2000) Recent developments in research on biogenic sulfuric acid attack of concrete. In: Lens P, Pol LH (eds) Environmental technologies to treat sulfur pollution: principles and engineering. IWA Publishing, London, UK, pp 515–547
Wagner M, Loy A, Klein M, Lee N, Ramsing NB, Stahl DA, Friedrich MW (2005) Functional marker genes for identification of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes. Method Enzymol 397:469–489
Widdel F, Pfennig N (1982) Studies on dissimilatory sulfate-reducing bacteria that decompose fatty acids II. Incomplete oxidation of propionate by Desulfobulbus propionicus gen. nov., sp. nov. Arch Microbiol 131(4):360–365
Zhang L, De Schryver P, De Gusseme B, De Muynck W, Boon N, Verstraete W (2008) Chemical and biological technologies for hydrogen sulfide emission control in sewer systems: a review. Water Res 42(1):1–12
Zverlov V, Klein M, Lücker S, Friedrich MW, Kellermann J, Stahl DA, Loy A, Wagner M (2005) Lateral gene transfer of dissimilatory (bi)sulfite reductase revisited. J Bacteriol 187(6):2203–2208
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Veolia Limited for the assistance with this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
ESM 1
(PDF 448 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Biswas, K., Taylor, M.W. & Turner, S.J. dsrAB-based analysis of sulphate-reducing bacteria in moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) wastewater treatment plants. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98, 7211–7222 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-5769-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-5769-5