The study aimed to identify the key bacteria and the potential interactions among these bacteria during the degradation of pollutants in cellar water, The main pollution characteristics were nitrogen, phosphorus and organic pollution. The structure and function of the bacterial community and its correlation with water quality variables were analyzed. A network of seven associations of microbial co-occurrence was set up, based on 16S rRNA and the model for inferring co-occurrence or interspecific interactions of microbial species. This showed that there were a large number of microorganisms with relatively specific ecological functions in the cellar water, and that many metabolic activities were involved. The ecological relationships of most bacteria in the association network were a form of mutualism. The most prominent genera included Lacibacter, Arthrobacter, Candidatus Protochlamydia, Methylocaldum, Sulfuritalea, Mycobacterium, Aquirestis, Rhodobacter, and, Methylotenera. The strong associations were observed between following bacteria:Sulfuritalea-Rhodobacter, Azospirillum-Rhodobacter, Methylocaldum-Rhodobacter, Arthrobacter-Rhodobacter, Rhodoplanes-Rhodobacter, Candidatus Protochlamydia-Rhodobacter, Methylotenera-Rhodobacter, Rhodobacter-Aquirestis, Mycobacterium-Rhodobacter, Planctomyces-Candidatus Solibacter, Planctomyces-Legionella, Hymenobacter-Adhaeribacter, and Luteolibacter-Crenothrix. It was considered that Rhodobacter, Methylocaldum, Methylotenera, Acinetobacter, Novosphingobium, Planctomyces, Hymenobacter, and Luteolibacter were the key bacteria involved in microbial degradation of cellar water pollutants, and Rhodobacter was the representative genus of the key bacteria. The authors concluded that the research results improved understanding of the microbial degradation mechanism of pollutants in cellar water.
Keywords: association network of microbial co-occurrence; cellar water; community complexity; key bacteria; microbial community functional gene.