Project description:Wastewater treatment plants use a variety of bioreactor types and configurations to remove organic matter and nutrients. Little is known regarding the effects of different configurations and within-plant immigration on microbial community dynamics. Previously, we found that the structure of ammonia-oxidizing bacterial (AOB) communities in a full-scale dispersed growth activated sludge bioreactor correlated strongly with levels of NO2- entering the reactor from an upstream trickling filter (Wells et al 2009). Here, to further examine this puzzling association, we profile within-plant microbial biogeography (spatial variation) and test the hypothesis that substantial microbial immigration occurs along a transect (raw influent, trickling filter biofilm, trickling filter effluent, and activated sludge) at the same full-scale wastewater treatment plant. AOB amoA gene abundance increased >30-fold between influent and trickling filter effluent concomitant with NO2- production, indicating unexpected growth and activity of AOB within the trickling filter. Nitrosomonas europaea was the dominant AOB phylotype in trickling filter biofilm and effluent, while a distinct ‘Nitrosomonas-like’ lineage dominated in activated sludge. Prior time series indicated that this ‘Nitrosomonas-like’ lineage was dominant when NO2- levels in the trickling filter effluent (i.e., activated sludge influent) were low, while N. europaea became dominant in the activated sludge when NO2- levels were high. This is consistent with the hypothesis that NO2- production may co-occur with biofilm sloughing, releasing N. europaea from the trickling filter into the activated sludge bioreactor. Phylogenetic microarray (PhyloChip) analyses revealed significant spatial variation in taxonomic diversity, including a large excess of methanogens in the trickling filter relative to activated sludge and attenuation of Enterobacteriaceae across the transect, and demonstrated transport of a highly diverse microbial community via the trickling filter effluent to the activated sludge bioreactor. Our results provide compelling evidence that substantial immigration between coupled process units occurs and may exert significant influence over microbial community dynamics within staged bioreactors.
2015-11-03 | GSE52079 | GEO
Project description:Granule sludge sequencing
| PRJNA1065387 | ENA
Project description:Anammox sludge
| PRJNA723951 | ENA
Project description:activated and anammox seed sludge, five enriched anammox sludge
Project description:Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) emerges as a sustainable solution for nitrogen removal in sewage, but it is susceptible to stress induced by xenobiotics that are ubiquitous in sewage. Despite wide recognition of this critical issue, a comprehensive understanding of the molecular and ecological mechanisms underlying the response of anammox consortia to xenobiotic stress remain elusive. Here, we integrated multi-omics approaches with biofilm reactor operation to unravel how bisphenol A (BPA, a representative xenobiotic) perturbs anammox consortia across environmentally relevant concentrations. We show that anammox consortia tolerated low BPA levels (0.2–2 mg/L), where nitrogen removal efficiency transiently declined and subsequently recovered, aided by a 30.9% increase in quorum-sensing (QS) signal C6-HSL. By contrast, exposure to ≥10 mg/L BPA caused severe and irreversible inhibition, with total inorganic nitrogen removal dropping to 17.8%. High BPA concentrations suppressed QS signaling, intensified oxidative stress, and compromised membrane integrity, leading to enzymatic inhibition and transcriptional repression of anammox functional genes. Multi-omics evidence revealed that BPA stress also promoted horizontal transfer of the BPA-degrading gene bisdA via extracellular DNA, suggesting a new community-level adaptive mechanism. Metagenomic and metabolomic analyses further indicated BPA-driven restructuring of microbial networks, namely high BPA levels favored denitrifiers and BPA degraders while suppressing anammox bacteria, and triggered metabolic reprogramming toward xenobiotic degradation at the expense of nucleotide and amino acid biosynthesis. Together, these findings reveal a multifaceted collapse mechanism of anammox under BPA stress, providing a mechanistic basis for designing strategies to safeguard microbial nitrogen removal in xenobiotic-laden wastewaters.