Composition and Dynamics of the Activated Sludge Microbiome during Seasonal Nitrification Failure.

ABSTRACT: Wastewater treatment plants in temperate climate zones frequently undergo seasonal nitrification failure in the winter month yet maintain removal efficiency for other contaminants. We tested the hypothesis that nitrification failure can be correlated to shifts in the nitrifying microbial community. We monitored three parallel, full-scale sequencing batch reactors over the course of a year with respect to reactor performance, microbial community composition via 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, and functional gene abundance using qPCR. All reactors demonstrated similar changes to their core microbiome, and only subtle variations among seasonal and transient taxa. We observed a decrease in species richness during the winter, with a slow recovery of the activated sludge community during spri

SUBMITTER: Johnston J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6418219 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature