Abundance and diversity of nitrogen-removing microorganisms in the UASB-anammox reactor

PLoS One. 2019 Apr 22;14(4):e0215615. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215615. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation is considered to be the most economical and low-energy biological nitrogen removal process. So far, anammox bacteria have not yet been purified from cultures. Some nitrogen-removing microorganisms cooperate to perform the anammox process. The objective of this research was to analyze the abundance and diversity of nitrogen-removing microorganisms in an anammox reactor started up with bulking sludge at room temperature. In this study, the ammonia-oxidizing archaea phylum Crenarchaeota was enriched from 9.2 to 53.0%. Nitrosomonas, Nitrosococcus, and Nitrosospira, which are ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, increased from 3.2, 1.7, and 0.1% to 12.8, 20.4, and 3.3%, respectively. Ca. Brocadia, Ca. Kuenenia, and Ca. Scalindua, which are anammox bacteria, were detected in the seeding sludge, accounting for 77.1, 11.5, and 10.6%. After cultivation, the dominant genus changed to Ca. Kuenenia, accounting for 82.0%. Nitrospirae, nitrite oxidation bacteria, decreased from 2.2 to 0.1%, while denitrifying genera decreased from 12.9 to 2.1%. The results of this study contribute to the understanding of nitrogen-removing microorganisms in an anammox reactor, thereby facilitating the improvement of such reactors. However, the physiological and metabolic functions of the ammonia-oxidizing archaea community in the anammox reactor need to be investigated in further studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Ammonium Compounds / metabolism*
  • Anaerobiosis
  • Archaea / metabolism
  • Bacteria / classification
  • Bacteria / metabolism
  • Biodiversity*
  • Bioreactors / microbiology*
  • Nitrogen / metabolism*
  • Nitrosomonas / classification
  • Nitrosomonas / metabolism
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Population Density
  • Sewage / microbiology*
  • Waste Disposal, Fluid / instrumentation
  • Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods

Substances

  • Ammonium Compounds
  • Sewage
  • Nitrogen

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51568061).