Quantification of Nitrosomonas oligotropha-like ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and Nitrospira spp. from full-scale wastewater treatment plants by competitive PCR.

ABSTRACT: Utilizing the principle of competitive PCR, we developed two assays to enumerate Nitrosomonas oligotropha-like ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria belonging to the genus NITROSPIRA: The specificities of two primer sets, which were designed for two target regions, the amoA gene and Nitrospira 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA), were verified by DNA sequencing. Both assays were optimized and applied to full-scale, activated sludge wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) samples. If it was assumed that there was an average of 3.6 copies of 16S rDNA per cell in the total population and two copies of the amoA gene per ammonia-oxidizing bacterial cell, the ammonia oxidizers examined represented 0.0033% +/- 0.0022% of the total bacterial population in a municipal WWTP. N. oligotropha-like a

SUBMITTER: Dionisi HM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC126567 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature