Effects of successional sulfadiazine exposure on biofilm in moving bed biofilm reactor: Secretion of extracellular polymeric substances, community activity and functional gene expression

Liang Zhu; Jingwei Ma; Huizhou Yuan; Lin Deng; Zhou Shi; Qiulai He; Shuizhou Ke

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129092

Effects of successional sulfadiazine exposure on biofilm in moving bed biofilm reactor: Secretion of extracellular polymeric substances, community activity and functional gene expression

Bioresour Technol. 2023 Jul:380:129092. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129092. Epub 2023 Apr 24.

Authors

Liang Zhu¹, Jingwei Ma², Huizhou Yuan³, Lin Deng¹, Zhou Shi¹, Qiulai He⁴, Shuizhou Ke¹

Affiliations

¹ Hunan Engineering Research Center of Water Security Technology and Application, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China; Key Laboratory of Building Safety and Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Education, Department of Water Engineering and Science, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.
² Hunan Engineering Research Center of Water Security Technology and Application, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China; Key Laboratory of Building Safety and Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Education, Department of Water Engineering and Science, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China. Electronic address: jma@hnu.edu.cn.
³ School of Materials & Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen Polytechnic, Shenzhen 518055, China.
⁴ Hunan Engineering Research Center of Water Security Technology and Application, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China; Key Laboratory of Building Safety and Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Education, Department of Water Engineering and Science, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China. Electronic address: qiulaihe@hnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37100294
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129092

Abstract

The effects of sulfadiazine (SDZ) on responses of biofilm in a moving bed biofilm reactor were explored with emphasis on the changes in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and functional genes. It was found that 3 to 10 mg/L SDZ reduced the protein (PN) and polysaccharide (PS) contents of EPS by 28.7%-55.1% and 33.3%-61.4%, respectively. The EPS maintained high ratio of PN to PS (10.3-15.1), and the major functional groups within EPS remained unaffected to SDZ. Bioinformatics analysis showed that SDZ significantly altered the community activity such as increased expression of s_Alcaligenes faecali. Totally, the biofilm held high SDZ removal rates, which were ascribed to the self-protection by secreted EPS, and genes levels upregulation of antibiotic resistance and transporter protein. Collectively, this study provides more details on the biofilm community exposure to an antibiotic and highlights the role of EPS and functional genes in antibiotic removal.

Keywords: Antibiotic; Biofilm microbial community; EPS; MBBR; Structural equation modeling.

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
Biofilms
Bioreactors
Extracellular Polymeric Substance Matrix*
Gene Expression
Proteins
Sulfadiazine* / pharmacology

Substances

Sulfadiazine
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Proteins