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Isolation and characterization of three heterotrophic nitrifying-aerobic denitrifying bacteria from a sequencing batch reactor

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Abstract

Three novel heterotrophic nitrifying bacterial strains, YB, YH and YL were isolated from a laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactor. These strains were identified as Acinetobacter junii YB, Pseudomonas putida YH and Pseudomonas aeruginosa YL, respectively. All three strains exhibited efficient heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification capabilities, with a low accumulation of nitrification products over a wide range of ammonium loads, and were able to utilize nitrite and nitrate as a sole nitrogen source. About one-half of the consumed total nitrogen was converted into intracellular nitrogen, and the remainder was believed to be denitrified. Strain YH was found to possess higher nitrogen removal capacity than the other two strains. Single-factor experiments indicated that the optimal conditions for all three heterotrophic ammonium oxidation strains were as follows: succinate as the carbon source, C/N ratio of 10, pH of 7.0, temperature of 30 °C, and shaking speed of 160 rpm. The presence of hydroxylamine oxidase, nitrite reductase and nitrate reductase provided additional evidence of heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification of the isolates. Higher enzyme activity observed in strain YH further demonstrated its superior nitrogen removal ability.

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50878179).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, 710055, China

    Lei Yang, Yong-Xiang Ren, Si-Qi Zhao & Jun-ping Wang

  2. Key Lab of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, Ministry of Education, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, 710055, China

    Lei Yang, Yong-Xiang Ren, Si-Qi Zhao & Jun-ping Wang

  3. Xi’an Municipal Engineering Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd., Xi’an, 710068, China

    Xian Liang

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  1. Lei Yang
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  2. Yong-Xiang Ren
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  3. Si-Qi Zhao
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  4. Xian Liang
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  5. Jun-ping Wang
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Correspondence to Yong-Xiang Ren.

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Yang, L., Ren, YX., Zhao, SQ. et al. Isolation and characterization of three heterotrophic nitrifying-aerobic denitrifying bacteria from a sequencing batch reactor. Ann Microbiol 66, 737–747 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1161-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1161-7

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