Characterization of wastewater treatment plant microbial communities and the effects of carbon sources on diversity in laboratory models.

ABSTRACT: We are developing a laboratory-scale model to improve our understanding and capacity to assess the biological risks of genetically engineered bacteria and their genetic elements in the natural environment. Our hypothetical scenario concerns an industrial bioreactor failure resulting in the introduction of genetically engineered bacteria to a downstream municipal wastewater treatment plant (MWWTP). As the first step towards developing a model for this scenario, we sampled microbial communities from the aeration basin of a MWWTP at three seasonal time points. Having established a baseline for community composition, we investigated how the community changed when propagated in the laboratory, including cell culture media conditions that could provide selective pressure in future studies. Speci

SUBMITTER: Lee S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4141834 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature