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Impacts of environmental factors on microbial diversity, distribution patterns and syntrophic correlation in anaerobic processes

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Abstract

Anaerobic processes are widely used for treating high-strength organic wastewater. Understanding the ecological patterns of the microorganisms involved and the effect of environmental factors on microbial community are important to manage the performance of anaerobic processes. Microbial communities of 12 anaerobic sludge samples acclimated under different environmental conditions were investigated. Genera detected from these anaerobic sludge samples generally presented three distribution patterns: frequently detected with high abundance, frequently detected with low abundance and occasionally detected with permanently low abundance. The type of feed stock was one of the most important process parameters affecting the shape of microbial community (e.g., Syntrophus, Methylomonas and Methylobacillus). Dye wastewater (Bacteroides) and the supplement of conductive materials (genus T78) were also found to shape the microbial community. Some syntrophic bacteria and methanogens were rare in many anaerobic samples. However, correlation analysis suggested that rare genera are potential syntrophic partners and are responsible for syntrophic methanogenesis.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51878371) and the Science and Technology Innovation Committee of Shenzhen Municipality (JCYJ20170817161106801). The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their careful reviews and useful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenzhen Environmental Science and New Energy Technology Engineering Laboratory, Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, Shenzhen, 518055, Guangdong, China

    Qidong Yin

  2. Guangdong Province Engineering Research Center for Urban Water Recycling and Environmental Safety, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, 518055, Guangdong, China

    Qidong Yin, Zhongzhong Wang & Guangxue Wu

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  1. Qidong Yin
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  2. Zhongzhong Wang
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Correspondence to Guangxue Wu.

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Yin, Q., Wang, Z. & Wu, G. Impacts of environmental factors on microbial diversity, distribution patterns and syntrophic correlation in anaerobic processes. Arch Microbiol 201, 603–614 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-019-01627-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-019-01627-x

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