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Facilitating nitrification and biofilm formation of Vibrio sp. by N-acyl-homoserine lactones in high salinity environment

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Abstract

The N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs)-mediated quorum-sensing (QS) system played a crucial role in regulating biological nitrogen removal and biofilm formation. However, the regulatory role of AHLs on nitrogen removal bacteria in high salinity environment has remained unclear. This study evaluated the roles and release patterns of AHLs in Vibrio sp. LV-Q1 under high salinity condition. Results showed that Vibrio sp. primarily secretes five AHLs, and the AHLs activity is strongly correlated with the bacterial density. Exogenous C10-HSL and 3OC10-HSL were found to significantly enhance ammonium removal, while making a minor contribution to the growth rate. Both the C10-HSL and 3OC10-HSL promoted the biofilm formation of Vibrio sp. with an enhancement of 1.64 and 1.78 times, respectively. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) observations confirmed the biofilm-enhancing effect of AHLs. Further analysis revealed that AHLs significantly improved bacterial self-aggregation and motility, as well as the level of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). These findings provide significant guidance on construction of nitrification system at high salinity.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Shanxi Province Science Foundation for Youths (Grant No. 20210302124348 and 202103021223099), Shanxi-Zheda Institute of Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering (Grant No. 2021SX-AT004), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51778397).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Clean and Efficient Coal Utilization, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Zhixiang Gao, Ying Wang & Yongkang Lv

  2. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Hu Chen

  3. Shanxi-Zheda Institute of Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Yongkang Lv

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ZG conceived and designed the research, analyzed the data, and drafted the article. YW participated in data analysis. HC contributed to the data analysis and revision of the manuscript. YL revised the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ying Wang or Yongkang Lv.

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Gao, Z., Wang, Y., Chen, H. et al. Facilitating nitrification and biofilm formation of Vibrio sp. by N-acyl-homoserine lactones in high salinity environment. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 47, 325–339 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-023-02962-6

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