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Overall functional gene diversity of microbial communities in three full-scale activated sludge bioreactors

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Understanding microbial community composition is thought to be crucial for improving process functioning and stabilities of full-scale activated sludge reactors in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). However, functional gene compositions of microbial communities within them have not been clearly elucidated. To gain a complete picture of microbial community, in this study, GeoChip 4.2 was used to profile the overall functional genes of three full-scale activated sludge bioreactors, the 16S rRNA gene diversities of which had been unveiled by 454-pyrosequencing in our previous investigation. Triplicate activated sludge samples from each system were analyzed, with the detection of 38,507 to 40,654 functional genes. A high similarity of 77.3–81.2 % shared functional genes was noted among the nine samples, verified by the high 16S rRNA gene similarity with shared operational taxonomic units (OTUs) constituting 66.4–70.0 % of the detected sequences in each system. Correlation analyses showed that the abundances of a wide array of functional genes were associated with system performances. For example, the abundances of carbon degradation genes were strongly correlated to chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies (r = 0.8697, P < 0.01). Lastly, we found that sludge retention time (SRT), influent total nitrogen concentrations (TN inf), and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations were key environmental factors shaping the overall functional genes. Together, the results revealed vast functional gene diversity and some links between the functional gene compositions and microbe-mediated processes.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the NSFC (51178239) and the special fund of the State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control (12L03ESPC).

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  1. Xiaohui Wang

    Present address: Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, 100029, Beijing, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control State Key Joint Laboratory, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Yu Xia, Xiaohui Wang, Xianghua Wen, Kun Ding, Jizhong Zhou & Yunfeng Yang

  2. Institute for Environmental Genomics and Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

    Jizhong Zhou

  3. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, 100085, Beijing, China

    Yu Zhang

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  1. Yu Xia
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Correspondence to Xianghua Wen.

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Xia, Y., Wang, X., Wen, X. et al. Overall functional gene diversity of microbial communities in three full-scale activated sludge bioreactors. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98, 7233–7242 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-5791-7

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