Mitigation of membrane biofouling by a quorum quenching bacterium for membrane bioreactors

So-Young Ham; Han-Shin Kim; Eunji Cha; Jeong-Hoon Park; Hee-Deung Park

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2018.03.007

Mitigation of membrane biofouling by a quorum quenching bacterium for membrane bioreactors

Bioresour Technol. 2018 Jun:258:220-226. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.03.007. Epub 2018 Mar 2.

Authors

So-Young Ham¹, Han-Shin Kim¹, Eunji Cha¹, Jeong-Hoon Park¹, Hee-Deung Park²

Affiliations

¹ School of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea.
² School of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea; KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea. Electronic address: heedeung@korea.ac.kr.

PMID: 29525597
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.03.007

Abstract

In this study, a quorum-quenching (QQ) bacterium named HEMM-1 was isolated at a membrane bioreactor (MBR) plant. HEMM-1 has diplococcal morphology and 99% sequence identity to Enterococcus species. The HEMM-1 cell-free supernatant (CFS) showed higher QQ activities than the CFS of other QQ bacteria, mostly by degrading N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) with short acyl chains. Instrumental analyses revealed that HEMM-1 CFS degraded AHLs via lactonase activity. Under static, flow, and shear conditions, the HEMM-1 CFS was effective in reducing bacterial and activated-sludge biofilms formed on membrane surfaces. In conclusion, the HEMM-1 isolate is a QQ bacterium applicable to the control of biofouling in MBRs via inhibition of biofilm formation on membrane surfaces.

Keywords: Biofouling; Enterococcus durans; Lactonase; Membrane bioreactor; Quorum quenching.

MeSH terms

Acyl-Butyrolactones
Bacteria
Biofilms
Biofouling*
Bioreactors*
Quorum Sensing*

Substances

Acyl-Butyrolactones