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Comparison of microbial communities in different sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification reactors

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification is a useful approach for the eutrophication control in lakes and rivers, yet the microorganisms in this process are still not clearly known. In order to reveal the bacterial composition in these denitrification reactors, high-throughput sequencing was performed over the sludge samples. And the results indicated that when using thiosulfate, elemental sulfur, and sulfide as electron donors, the microbial communities were clearly different. Besides the well-known Thiobacillus, many other genera of denitrifiers were identified. Chlorobaculum, Dechloromonas, and Acinetobacter were the most predominant genera in thiosulfate, elemental sulfur, and sulfide systems, respectively, while Janthinobacterium accounted for the most in the heterotrophic reactor with ethanol as electron donor. Thiobacillus existed abundantly in every system, even in the heterotrophic one. PCA comparison revealed that the microbial communities in the denitrification systems may vary greatly according to the electron donor, the running condition, sampling position, and other factors.

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51478262). The authors are grateful to the Shanghai Personal Biotechnology Co., Ltd. for the technological support on high-throughput sequence and analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, No. 800, Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Weili Zhou, Yang Li, Xu Liu, Shengbing He & Jung Chen Huang

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  1. Weili Zhou
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  2. Yang Li
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  3. Xu Liu
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  4. Shengbing He
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  5. Jung Chen Huang
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Correspondence to Weili Zhou.

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This study is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51478262). This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Zhou, W., Li, Y., Liu, X. et al. Comparison of microbial communities in different sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification reactors. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 101, 447–453 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7912-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7912-y

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