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Biofilm bacterial communities in urban drinking water distribution systems transporting waters with different purification strategies

  • Environmental biotechnology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Biofilm formation in drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) has many adverse consequences. Knowledge of microbial community structure of DWDS biofilm can aid in the design of an effective control strategy. However, biofilm bacterial community in real DWDS and the impact of drinking water purification strategy remain unclear. The present study investigated the composition and diversity of biofilm bacterial community in real DWDSs transporting waters with different purification strategies (conventional treatment and integrated treatment). High-throughput Illumina MiSeq sequencing analysis illustrated a large shift in the diversity and structure of biofilm bacterial community in real DWDS. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Nitrospirae, and Cyanobacteria were the major components of biofilm bacterial community. Proteobacteria (mainly Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria) predominated in each DWDS biofilm, but the compositions of the dominant proteobacterial classes and genera and their proportions varied among biofilm samples. Drinking water purification strategy could shape DWDS biofilm bacterial community. Moreover, Pearson’s correlation analysis indicated that Actinobacteria was positively correlated with the levels of total alkalinity and dissolved organic carbon in tap water, while Firmicutes had a significant positive correlation with nitrite nitrogen.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control (No. MARC2012D010), National Water Special Program (No. 2012ZX07404-002), and International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China (No. 2010DFA91830).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control (MARC), Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Huiting Wu, Zilong Mi & Chao Chen

  2. School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Huiting Wu, Zilong Mi, Chao Chen & Xiaojian Zhang

  3. State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Jingxu Zhang & Shuguang Xie

Authors
  1. Huiting Wu
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  2. Jingxu Zhang
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  3. Zilong Mi
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  4. Shuguang Xie
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  5. Chao Chen
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  6. Xiaojian Zhang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Shuguang Xie or Chao Chen.

Additional information

Huiting Wu and Jingxu Zhang contributed equally to this study.

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Wu, H., Zhang, J., Mi, Z. et al. Biofilm bacterial communities in urban drinking water distribution systems transporting waters with different purification strategies. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 1947–1955 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-6095-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-6095-7

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