scholarly journals Metagenomics and Metatranscriptomics Reveal Pathway of 3-Chloroaniline Degradation in Wastewater Reactors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hari Seshan ◽  
Ezequiel Santillan ◽  
Florentin Constancias ◽  
Uma Shankari Chandra Segaran ◽  
Rohan B. H. Williams ◽  
...  

Biological wastewater treatment systems are often affected by major shifts in influent quality, including the input of various toxic chemicals. Yet the mechanisms underlying adaptation of activated sludge process performance when challenged with a sustained toxin input have not been studied in a controlled and replicated experiment. Three replicate bench-scale bioreactors were subjected to a chemical disturbance in the form of 3-chloroaniline (3-CA) input over 132 days, following an acclimation period of 58 days, while three control reactors received no 3-CA input. The nitrification process was initially affected by 3-CA input; yet all three treatment reactors evolved to biologically degrade 3-CA within three weeks of the experiment, resulting in partial nitrification recovery. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing revealed that ammonia oxidizers were initially impacted by 3-CA, and a new ammonia oxidizing community emerged with the onset of 3-CA degradation. Combining process and microbial community data from amplicon sequencing with potential functions gleaned from assembled metagenomics and metatranscriptomics data, 3-CA degradation was shown to likely occur via a phenol monooxygenase followed by ortho-cleavage of the aromatic ring. The relative abundance of genera Gemmatimonas, Saprospiraceae OLB8 and Taibaiella correlated significantly with 3-CA degradation. This study demonstrated the impact of a sustained stress on the activated sludge community and wastewater treatment process and its subsequent recovery. Using a combination of techniques in a controlled and replicated experiment, we showed that microbial communities can evolve degradative capacity following a sustained xenobiotic input, specific functions like nitrification can fully or partially recover and targeted culture-independent approaches can be used to elucidate the mechanisms of adaptation.

2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (11) ◽  
pp. 2519-2526 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. T. Mielczarek ◽  
A. M. Saunders ◽  
P. Larsen ◽  
M. Albertsen ◽  
M. Stevenson ◽  
...  

Since 2006 more than 50 Danish full-scale wastewater treatment plants with nutrient removal have been investigated in a project called ‘The Microbial Database for Danish Activated Sludge Wastewater Treatment Plants with Nutrient Removal (MiDas-DK)’. Comprehensive sets of samples have been collected, analyzed and associated with extensive operational data from the plants. The community composition was analyzed by quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) supported by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and deep metagenomics. MiDas-DK has been a powerful tool to study the complex activated sludge ecosystems, and, besides many scientific articles on fundamental issues on mixed communities encompassing nitrifiers, denitrifiers, bacteria involved in P-removal, hydrolysis, fermentation, and foaming, the project has provided results that can be used to optimize the operation of full-scale plants and carry out trouble-shooting. A core microbial community has been defined comprising the majority of microorganisms present in the plants. Time series have been established, providing an overview of temporal variations in the different plants. Interestingly, although most microorganisms were present in all plants, there seemed to be plant-specific factors that controlled the population composition thereby keeping it unique in each plant over time. Statistical analyses of FISH and operational data revealed some correlations, but less than expected. MiDas-DK (www.midasdk.dk) will continue over the next years and we hope the approach can inspire others to make similar projects in other parts of the world to get a more comprehensive understanding of microbial communities in wastewater engineering.


Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomáš Vítěz ◽  
Monika Vítězová ◽  
Markéta Nováčková ◽  
Ivan Kushkevych

Ensuring high quality drinking water sources is important task nowadays. To reach this task, knowledge about the impact of different chemicals on aerobic wastewater treatment is mandatory. A mixture of different chemicals reaches wastewater treatment plant every day. With the growing discharge volume of mobile toilet chemicals, active substances in these products in the past years have been recorded. The respiratory activity of activated sludge was determined to show how mobile toilet chemicals and their active substances may affect the biological wastewater treatment process. The results show negative effect of formaldehyde and bronopol on respiratory activity of activated sludge. The wastewater treatment plants influent composition and size also play important roles. Results shows that activated sludge microorganisms at a wastewater treatment plant in industrial urban area may be adapted to the higher pollutants concentration. When mobile toilet tanks are directly discharged at smaller wastewater treatment plant, an activated sludge process can be affected. For treating mobile toilet wastewater, bacterial degraders can be used. During our respiratory activity experiments, potential degraders were searched. Ralstonia sp. prevails in all samples and it is therefore a potential mobile toilet chemicals degrader.


RSC Advances ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (66) ◽  
pp. 41727-41737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hebin Liang ◽  
Dongdong Ye ◽  
Lixin Luo

Activated sludge is essential for the biological wastewater treatment process and the identification of active microbes enlarges awareness of their ecological functions in this system.


PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9325
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Jaromin-Gleń ◽  
Roman Babko ◽  
Tatiana Kuzmina ◽  
Yaroslav Danko ◽  
Grzegorz Łagód ◽  
...  

Reduction of the greenhouse effect is primarily associated with the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the gases that increases the greenhouse effect - it is responsible for about half of the greenhouse effect. Significant sources of CO2 are wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and waste management, with about 3% contribution to global emissions. CO2 is produced mainly in the aerobic stage of wastewater purification and is a consequence of activated sludge activity. Although the roles of activated sludge components in the purification process have been studied quite well, their quantitative contribution to CO2 emissions is still unknown. The emission of CO2 caused by prokaryotes and eukaryotes over the course of a year (taking into account subsequent seasons) in model sequencing batch reactors (SBR) is presented in this study. In this work, for the first time, we aimed to quantify this contribution of eukaryotic organisms to total CO2 emissions during the WWTP process. It is of the order of several or more ppm. The contribution of CO2 produced by different components of activated sludge in WWTPs can improve estimation of the emissions of GHGs in this area of human activity.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2657
Author(s):  
Elwira Nowobilska-Majewska ◽  
Piotr Bugajski

The aim of this study was to determine the condition of activated sludge in the biologic reactor located in the collective wastewater treatment plant in Nowy Targ (Poland) based on OUR tests in the aspect of the impact of sludge’s concentration in the biologic reactor and dependence of BOD5/TN and BOD5/TP in wastewater flowing into the biologic reactor. The analysis was conducted based on test results from 61 samples of activated sludge taken from the biologic reactor and 61 samples of wastewater flowing into the biologic reactor. The analysis included the concentration of sludge in the biologic reactor. The following indicators were analyzed in wastewater flowing into the reactor: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP). The statistical analysis concerning the impact of the analyzed factors on oxygen uptake rate (OUR) tests was developed based on the Pearson’s correlation coefficient and partial correlation of many variables. Based on the results of the partial correlation analysis, nomograms were developed to determine the condition of activated sludge microorganisms (OUR) based on the BOD5/TN and BOD5/TP connection and knowledge of the sludge concentration in the bioreactor of the treatment plant. The presented nomograms can be formulated for each bioreactor based on activated sludge technology related the load of organic and biogenic pollutants in the wastewater flowing into the bioreactor and the concentration of the sludge in the bioreactor.


2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (19) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet Johnston ◽  
Sebastian Behrens

ABSTRACT Activated sludge is comprised of diverse microorganisms which remediate wastewater. Previous research has characterized activated sludge using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, which can help to address questions on the relative abundance of microorganisms. In this study, we used 16S rRNA transcript sequencing in order to characterize “active” populations (via protein synthesis potential) and gain a deeper understanding of microbial activity patterns within activated sludge. Seasonal abundances of individual populations in activated sludge change over time, yet a persistent group of core microorganisms remains throughout the year which are traditionally classified on presence or absence without monitoring of their activity or growth. The goal of this study was to further our understanding of how the activated sludge microbiome changes between seasons with respect to population abundance, activity, and growth. Triplicate sequencing batch reactors were sampled at 10-min intervals throughout reaction cycles during all four seasons. We quantified the gene and transcript copy numbers of 16S rRNA amplicons using real-time PCR and sequenced the products to reveal community abundance and activity changes. We identified 108 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with stable abundance, activity, and growth throughout the year. Nonproliferating OTUs were commonly human health related, while OTUs that showed seasonal abundance changes have previously been identified as being associated with floc formation and bulking. We observed significant differences in 16S rRNA transcript copy numbers, particularly at lower temperatures in winter and spring. The study provides an analysis of the seasonal dynamics of microbial activity variations in activated sludge based on quantifying and sequencing 16S rRNA transcripts. IMPORTANCE Sequencing batch reactors are a common design for wastewater treatment plants, particularly in smaller municipalities, due to their low footprint and ease of operations. However, like for most treatment plants in temperate/continental climates, the microbial community involved in water treatment is highly seasonal and its biological processes can be sensitive to cold temperatures. The seasonality of these microbial communities has been explored primarily in conventional treatment plants and not in sequencing batch reactors. Furthermore, most studies often only address which organisms are present. However, the activated sludge microbial community is very diverse, and it is often hard to discern which organisms are active and which organisms are simply present. In this study, we applied additional sequencing techniques to also address the issues of which organisms are active and which organisms are growing. By addressing these issues, we gained new insights into seasonal microbial populations dynamics and activity patterns affecting wastewater treatment.


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