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Enrichment of denitratating bacteria from a methylotrophic denitrifying culture

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Denitratation (nitrite produced from nitrate), has the potential applications in wastewater treatment by combining with ANAMMOX process. The occurrence of denitratation has been shown to be effected qualitatively by various parameters in the environment. A more quantitative understanding can be obtained using enrichment cultures in lab-scale experiments, yet information on the enrichment of functional microorganisms responsible for denitratation is lacking. In this study, a stable denitratation-dominated culture was obtained from methylotrophic denitrifying culture. The results showed that, besides the substitution of acetate for methanol, the lasting starvation following saturation of electron donor was another pivotal selection pressure that favored the growth of denitratating bacteria, which was supported by the distinctive physiological strategy involving the higher growth rate combining with larger poly-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) accumulation at sufficient electron donor situation and then manage the stress of electron donor starvation by consumpiton of the PHB. High-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis indicated that non-methylotrophic Halomonas campisalis (48.1 %) and Halomonas campaniensis (30.4 %) dominated in the denitratating community. Moreover the denitratation was driven by the nitrate inhibiting the nirS transcription in the Halomonas species.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Science and Technology Support Program (2013BAD21B04). the Key Science and Technology Innovation Team Grant of Zhejiang (2013TD12), Shanghai Tongji Gao Tingyao Environmental Science and Technology Development Foundation, Zhejiang College Students’ Science and Technology Innovation Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Environmental and Resource Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Wei Li, Xiao-Yu Lin, Jun-Jie Chen, Chao-Yang Cai, Ghulam Abbas, He-Ping Zhao & Ping Zheng

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Misouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Zhi-Qiang Hu

  3. Zhejiang Prov Key Lab Water Pollut Control & Envi, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    He-Ping Zhao & Ping Zheng

  4. MOE Key Lab of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and Resource Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    He-Ping Zhao & Ping Zheng

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  1. Wei Li
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  2. Xiao-Yu Lin
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Correspondence to Ping Zheng.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Li, W., Lin, XY., Chen, JJ. et al. Enrichment of denitratating bacteria from a methylotrophic denitrifying culture. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 10203–10213 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7859-z

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