Cooperation triggers nitrogen removal and algal inhibition by actinomycetes during landscape water treatment: Performance and metabolic activity

Ignored microbial-induced taste and odor in drinking water reservoirs: Novel insight into actinobacterial community structure, assembly, and odor-producing potential

The presence of actinobacteria in reservoirs can lead to taste and odor issues, posing potential risks to the safety of drinking water supply. However, the response of actinobacterial communities to environmental factors in drinking water reservoirs remains largely unexplored. To address this gap, this study investigated the community structure and metabolic characteristics of odor-producing actinobacteria in water reservoirs across northern and southern China. The findings revealed differences in the actinobacterial composition across the reservoirs, with Mycobacterium sp. and Candidatus Nanopelagicus being the most prevalent genera. Notably, water temperature, nutrient levels, and metal concentrations were associated with differences in actinobacterial communities, with stochastic processes playing a major role in shaping the community assembly. In addition, three strains of odor-producing actinobacteria were cultured in raw reservoir water, namely Streptomyces antibioticus LJH21, Streptomyces sp. ZEU13, and Streptomyces sp. PQK19, with peak ATP concentrations of 51 nmol/L, 66 nmol/L, and 70 nmol/L, respectively, indicating that odor-producing actinobacteria could remain metabolically active under poor nutrient pressure. Additionally, Streptomyces antibioticus LJH21 produced the highest concentration of geosmin at 24.4 ng/L. These findings enhance our understanding of regional variances and reproductive metabolic mechanisms of actinobacteria in drinking water reservoirs, providing a solid foundation for improving drinking water quality control, especially for taste and odor.

Does exposure timing of macrolide antibiotics affect the development of river periphyton? Insights into the structure and function

Discharged sewage is the dominant source of urban river pollution. Macrolide antibiotics have emerged as prominent contaminants, which are frequently detected in sewage and rivers and pose a threat to aquatic microbial community. As a typical primary producer, periphyton is crucial for maintaining the biodiversity and functions of aquatic ecosystem. However, effects of antibiotic exposure time as well as the recovery process of periphyton remain undetermined. In the present study, five exposure scenarios of two typical macrolides, erythromycin (ERY) and roxithromycin (ROX) were investigated at 50 µg/L, dose to evaluate their potential detrimental effects on the structure and function of periphyton and the subsequent recovery process in 14 days. Results revealed that the composition of periphytic community returned to normal over the recovery period, except for a few sensitive species. The antibiotics-caused significant photodamage to photosystem II, leading to continuous inhibition of the photosynthetic capacity of periphyton. Furthermore, no significant difference in carbon metabolism capacity was observed after direct antibiotic exposure, while the amine carbon utilization capacity of periphyton remarkably increased during the recovery process. These results indicated that periphyton community was capable of coping with the periodic exposure of antibiotic pollutants and recovering on its own. However, the ecological functions of periphyton can be permanently disturbed due to macrolide exposure. Overall, this study sheds light on the influence of macrolide exposure on the development, structure and function of the periphytic microbial community in rivers.

Amorphous Fe substrate enhances nitrogen and phosphorus removal in sulfur autotrophic process

The autotrophic denitrification of coupled sulfur and natural iron ore can remove nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater with low C/N ratios. However, the low solubility of crystalline Fe limits its bioavailability and P absorption capacity. This study investigated the effects of amorphous Fe in drinking water treatment residue (DWTR) and crystalline Fe in red mud (RM) on nitrogen and phosphorus removal during sulfur autotrophic processes. Two types of S-Fe cross-linked filler particles with three-dimensional mesh structures were obtained by combining sulfur with the DWTR/RM using the hydrogel encapsulation method. Two fixed-bed reactors, sulfur-DWTR autotrophic denitrification (SDAD) and sulfur-RM autotrophic denitrification (SRAD), were constructed and stably operated for 236 d Under a 5-8-h hydraulic retention time, the average NO3--N, TN, and phosphate removal rates of SDAD and SRAD were 99.04 %, 96.29 %, 94.03 % (SDAD) and 97.33 %, 69.97 %, 82.26 % (SRAD), respectively. It is important to note that fermentative iron-reducing bacteria, specifically Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, were present in SDAD at an abundance of 58.17 %, but were absent from SRAD. The presence of these bacteria facilitated the reduction of Fe (III) to Fe (II), which led to the complete denitrification of the S-Fe (II) co-electron donor to produce Fe (III), completing the iron cycle in the system. This study proposes an enhancement method for sulfur autotrophic denitrification using an amorphous Fe substrate, providing a new option for the efficient treatment of low-C/N wastewater.

Algicidal activity synchronized with nitrogen removal by actinomycetes: Algicidal mechanism, stress response of algal cells, denitrification performance, and indigenous bacterial community co-occurrence

The harmful algal blooms (HABs) can damage the ecological equilibrium of aquatic ecosystems and threaten human health. The bio-degradation of algal by algicidal bacteria is an environmentally friendly and economical approach to control HABs. This study applied an aerobic denitrification synchronization algicidal strain Streptomyces sp. LJH-12-1 (L1) to control HABs. The cell-free filtrate of the strain L1 showed a great algolytic effect on bloom-forming cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa (M. aeruginosa). The optimal algicidal property of strain L1 was indirect light-dependent algicidal with an algicidal rate of 85.0%. The functional metabolism, light-trapping, light-transfer efficiency, the content of pigments, and inhibition of photosynthesis of M. aeruginosa decreased after the addition of the supernatant of the strain L1 due to oxidative stress. Moreover, 96.05% nitrate removal rate synchronized with algicidal activity was achieved with the strain L1. The relative abundance of N cycling functional genes significantly increased during the strain L1 effect on M. aeruginosa. The algicidal efficiency of the strain L1 in the raw water was 76.70% with nitrate removal efficiency of 81.4%. Overall, this study provides a novel route to apply bacterial strain with the property of denitrification coupled with algicidal activity in treating micro-polluted water bodies.

Source apportionment based on EEM-PARAFAC combined with microbial tracing model and its implication in complex pollution area, Wujin District, China

Further improving the quality of surface water is becoming more difficult after the control of main point-sources, especially in the complex pollution area with mixed industrial and agricultural productions, whereas the pollution source apportionment might be the key to quantify different pollution sources and developing some effective measures. In this study, a technical framework for source apportionment based on three-dimensional fluorescence and microbial traceability model is developed. Based on screening of the main environmental factors and their spatiotemporal characteristics, potential pollution sources have been tentatively identified. Then, the pollution sources are further tested based on the analysis of fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) and the similarity of fluorescence components in surface water and potential pollution sources. At the same time, the correlation between microbial species and pollution sources is constructed by analyzing the spatiotemporal characteristics of microbial composition and the response of main species to environmental factors. Therefore, pollution source apportionment is quantified using PCA-APCS-MLR, Fast Expectation-maximization for Microbial Source Tracking (FEAST), and Bayesian community-wide culture-independent microbial source tracking (SourceTracker). PCA-APCS-MLR could not effectively distinguish the contributions of different industrial sources in the complex environment of this study, and the contribution of unknown sources was high (average 39.60%). In contrast, the microbial traceability model can accurately identify the contribution of 7 pollution sources and natural sources, effectively reduce the proportion of unknown sources (average of FEAST is 19.81%, SourceTracker is 16.72%), and show better pollution identification and distribution capabilities. FEAST exhibits a more sensitive potential in source apportionment and shorter calculation time than SourceTracker, thus might be used to guide the precise regional pollution control, especially in the complex pollution environments.

Aerobic Denitrification Promoting by Actinomycetes Coculture: Investigating Performance, Carbon Source Metabolic Characteristic, and Raw Water Restoration

The coculture theory that promotes denitrification relies on effectively utilizing the resources of low-efficiency denitrification microbes. Here, the strains Streptomyces sp. PYX97 and Streptomyces sp. TSJ96 were isolated and showed lower denitrification capacity when cultured individually. However, the coculture of strains PYX97 and TSJ96 enhanced nitrogen removal (removed 96.40% of total nitrogen) and organic carbon reduction (removed 92.13% of dissolved organic carbon) under aerobic conditions. Nitrogen balance analysis indicated that coculturing enhanced the efficiency of nitrate converted into gaseous nitrogen reaching 70.42%. Meanwhile, the coculturing promoted the cell metabolism capacity and carbon source metabolic activity. The coculture strains PYX97 and TSJ96 thrived in conditions of C/N = 10, alkalescence, and 150 rpm shaking speed. The coculturing reduced total nitrogen and CODMn in the raw water treatment by 83.32 and 84.21%, respectively. During this treatment, the cell metabolic activity and cell density increased in the coculture strains PYX97 and TSJ96 reactor. Moreover, the coculture strains could utilize aromatic protein and soluble microbial products during aerobic denitrification processes in raw water treatment. This study suggests that coculturing inefficient actinomycete strains could be a promising approach for treating polluted water bodies.

Promoting aerobic denitrification in reservoir water with iron-activated carbon: Enhanced nitrogen and organics removal efficiency, and biological mechanisms

Carbon scarcity limits denitrification in micropolluted water, especially in drinking water reservoirs. Therefore, a Fe-activated carbon (AC) carrier was used in this study to enhance the nitrogen removal capacity of aboriginal denitrification in drinking water reservoirs under aerobic conditions. Following carrier addition, total nitrogen (TN) and permanganate index (CODMn) removal efficiencies reached 81.89% and 72.66%, respectively, and were enhanced by 40.45% and 39.65%. Nitrogen balance analysis indicated that 77.86% of the initial TN was converted into gaseous nitrogen. Biolog analysis suggested that the metabolic activity of denitrifying bacteria was substantially enhanced. 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated that organic degradation bacteria, hydrogen-consuming, Fe-oxidizing, and Fe-reducing denitrifying bacteria (e.g., Arenimonas, Hydrogenophaga, Zoogloea, Methylibium, and Piscinibacter) evolved into the dominant species. Additionally, napA, nirS, nirK, and nosZ genes were enriched by 3.17, 6.68, 0.40, and 6.70 folds, respectively, which is conducive to complete denitrification. These results provide a novel pathway for the use of Fe-AC to promote aerobic denitrification in micropolluted drinking water reservoirs.

Activation of indigenous denitrifying bacteria and enhanced nitrogen removal via artificial mixing in a drinking water reservoir: Insights into gene abundance, community structure, and co-existence model

Nitrogen pollution poses a severe threat to aquatic ecosystems and human health. This study investigated the use of water lifting aerators for in situ nitrogen reduction in a drinking water reservoir. The reservoir was thoroughly mixed and oxygenated after using water-lifting aerators for 42 days. The average total nitrogen concentration, nitrate nitrogen, and ammonium nitrogen-in all water layers-decreased significantly (P < 0.01), with a reduction efficiency of 35 ± 3%, 34 ± 2%, and 70 ± 6%, respectively. Other pollutants, including organic matter, phosphorus, iron, and manganese, were also effectively removed. Quantitative polymerase chain reactions indicated that bacterial nirS gene abundance was enhanced 26.34-fold. High-throughput sequencing, phylogenetic tree, and network analysis suggested that core indigenous nirS-type denitrifying bacteria, such as Dechloromonas, Simplicispira, Thauera, and Azospira, played vital roles in nitrogen and other pollutant removal processes. Furthermore, structural equation modeling revealed that nitrogen removal responded positively to WT, DO, and nirS gene abundance. Our findings provide a promising strategy for nitrogen removal in oligotrophic drinking water reservoirs with carbon deficiencies.

Temporal patterns of algae in different urban lakes and their correlations with environmental variables in Xi'an, China

Urban lakes were critical in aquatic ecology environments, but how environmental factors affected the distribution and change characteristics of algal communities in urban lakes of Xi'an city was not clearly. Here, we investigated the algal community structure of six urban lakes in Xi'an and evaluated the effects of water quality parameters on algae. The results indicated that the significant differences on physicochemical parameters existed in different urban lakes. The maximum concentration of total phosphorus in urban lakes was (0.18 ± 0.01) mg/L and there was a phenomenon of phosphorus limitation. In addition, 51 genera of algae were identified and Chlorella sp. was the dominant algal species, which was affiliated with Chlorophyta. Network analysis elucidated that each lake had a unique algal community network and the positive correlation was dominant in the interaction between algae species, illustrating that mature microbial communities existed or occupied similar niches. Redundancy analysis illustrated that environmental factors explained 47.35% variance of algal species-water quality correlation collectively, indicating that water quality conditions had a significant influence on the temporal variations of algae. Structural equation model further verified that algal community structure was directly or indirectly regulated by different water quality conditions. Our study shows that temporal patterns of algal communities can reveal the dynamics and interactions of different urban ecosystem types, providing a theoretical basis for assessing eutrophication levels and for water quality management.

Novel insights into aerobic denitrifying bacterial communities augmented denitrification capacity and mechanisms in lake waters

Scanty attention has been paid to augmenting the denitrification performance of polluted lake water by adding mix-cultured aerobic denitrifying bacterial communities (Mix-CADBCs). In this study, to solve the serious problem of nitrogen pollution in lake water bodies, aerobic denitrifying bacteria were added to lake water to enhance the nitrogen and carbon removal ability. Three Mix-CADBCs were isolated from lake water and they could remove >94 % of total nitrogen and dissolved organic carbon, respectively. The balance of nitrogen analysis shown that >70 % of the initial nitrogen was converted to gaseous nitrogen, and <11 % of the initial nitrogen was converted into microbial biomass. The batch experiments indicated that three Mix-CADBCs could perform denitrification under various conditions. According to the results of nirS-type sequencing, the Hydrogenophaga sp., Prosthecomicrobium sp., and Pseudomonas sp. were dominated genera of three Mix-CADBCs. The analysis of network indicated Pseudomonas I.Bh25.14 and Vogsella LIG4 were correlated with the removal of total nitrogen (TN) and dissolved organic carbon in the Mix-CADBCs. Compared with lake raw water, the addition of three Mix-CADBCs could promote the denitrification capacity (the removal efficiencies of TN > 78.72 %), microbial growth (optical density increased by 0.015-0.138 and the total cell count increased by 2 times), and organic degradation ability (the removal efficiency chemical oxygen demand >38 %) of lake water. In general, the findings of this study demonstrated that Mix-CADBCs could provide a new perspective for biological treatment lake water body.

Nitrogen reduction by aerobic denitrifying fungi isolated from reservoirs using biodegradation materials for electron donor: Capability and adaptability in the lower C/N raw water treatment

Biological denitrification was considered an efficient and environmentally friendly way to remove the nitrogen in the water body. However, biological denitrification showed poor nitrogen removal performance due to the lack of electron donors in the low C/N water. In this study, three novel aerobic denitrifying fungi (Trichoderma sp., Penicillium sp., and Fusarium sp.) were isolated and enhanced the performance of aerobic denitrification of fungi in low C/N water bodies combined with polylactic acid/polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PLA/PBAT). In this work, the aerobic denitrifying fungi seed were added to denitrifying liquid medium and mixed with PLA/PBAT. The result showed that Trichoderma sp., Penicillium sp., and Fusarium sp. could reduce 89.93 %, 89.20 %, and 87.76 % nitrate. Meanwhile, the nitrate removal efficiency adding PLA/PBAT exceeded 1.40, 1.68, and 1.46 times that of none. The results of material characterization suggested that aerobic denitrifying fungi have different abilities to secrete proteases or lipases to catalyze ester bonds in PLA/PBAT and utilize it as nutrients in denitrification, especially in Penicillium brasiliensis D6. Besides, the electron transport system activity and the intracellular ATP concentration were increased significantly after adding PLA/PBAT, especially in Penicillium brasiliensis D6. Finally, the highest removal efficiency of total nitrogen in landscape water by fungi combined with PLA/PBAT was >80 %. The findings of this work provide new insight into the possibility of nitrogen removal by fungi in low C/N and the recycling of degradable resources.

Effects of copper sulfate algaecide on the cell growth, physiological characteristics, the metabolic activity of Microcystis aeruginosa and raw water application

Harmful cyanobacteria blooms (HCBs) occurred frequently and become a serious scientific challenge. Copper sulfate (CuSO₄) is a broad-spectrum chemical algaecide to control algae blooms. Herein, the Microcystis aeruginosa was exposed to different CuSO₄ (0.0, 0.2 and 0.5 mg/L) to assess the variations in algal physiological process and metabolic profiles. The results indicated that exposure to CuSO₄ of 0.5 mg/L at 72 h could significantly inhibit the cell growth and photosynthetic capacity of M. aeruginosa, including chl-a content and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters. Plasma membrane damage causing cell lysis of M. aeruginosa increased the K⁺ release. The increase of SOD and CAT suggested that CuSO₄ treatment caused oxidative stress in algal cells. Different doses of CuSO₄ modified the carbon metabolic potential, algal cells had their unique metabolic mode thereby. Moreover, the research further verified that CuSO₄ would also inhibit algal growth and change algal community structure in site-collected water application. Overall, laboratory results of M. aeruginosa to CuSO₄ and site-collected water application of algal responses to CuSO₄ might be conducive to uncovering the controlling mechanism of algae and the potential effect of carbon cycling in an ecological environment.

Aerobic denitrifying using actinobacterial consortium: Novel denitrifying microbe and its application

The aerobic denitrifying capacity of actinomycete strain has been investigated recently, while little is known about nitrogen and carbon substrate removal by mix-cultured aerobic denitrifying actinobacteria (Mix-CADA) community. Hence, three Mix-CADA consortiums, named Y23, X21, and Y27, were isolated from urban lakes to investigate their aerobic denitrification capacity, and their removal efficiency for nitrate and dissolved organic carbon were >97 % and 90 %, respectively. Illumina Miseq sequencing revealed that Streptomyces was the most dominant genus in the Mix-CADA consortium. Network analysis indicated that Streptomyces exfoliates, as the core species in the Mix-CADA consortium, majorly contributed to dissolved organic carbon and total nitrogen reduction. Moreover, the three Mix-CADA consortiums could remove 78 % of the total nitrogen and 61 % of the permanganate index from the micro-polluted l water. Meanwhile, humic-like was significantly utilized by three Mix-CADA consortiums, whereas Mix-CADA Y27 could also utilize aromatic protein and soluble microbial by-product-like in the micro-polluted raw water purification. In summary, this study will offer a novel perspective for the purification of micro-polluted raw water using the Mix-CADA consortium.

Novel insights in seasonal dynamics and co-existence patterns of phytoplankton and micro-eukaryotes in drinking water reservoir, Northwest China: DNA data and ecological model

Although associations between phytoplankton and micro-eukaryotes have been studied in aquatic ecosystems, there are still knowledge gaps in comprehending their dynamics and interactions in drinking water reservoirs. Here, the seasonal dynamics of phytoplankton and micro-eukaryotic diversities and their co-existence patterns were studied in a drinking water reservoir, Northwest China. The highest phytoplankton diversity was observed in summer, and Chlorella sp. that belongs to Chlorophyta was the most abundant genus. The highest eukaryotic diversity was also detected in summer, and Rimostrombidium sp. that belongs to Ciliophora was the most dominant genus. Mantel test showed that the phytoplankton diversity was significantly correlated with ammonia nitrogen (r = 0.561, p = 0.001) and dissolved organic carbon (r = 0.267, p = 0.017), while the eukaryotic diversity was significantly associated with ammonia nitrogen (r = 0.265, p = 0.034) and temperature (r = 0.208, p = 0.046). PLS-PM (Partial Least Squares Path Modeling) further revealed that nutrients (P < 0.01) significantly affected the phytoplankton diversity, while nutrients (P < 0.01) and temperature (P < 0.01) significantly influenced the eukaryotic diversity. Co-occurrence network displayed the primarily positive interactions (77.66% positive and 22.34% negative) between phytoplankton and micro-eukaryotes. These findings could deepen our understanding of interactions between phytoplankton and micro-eukaryotes and their driving factors under changing aquatic environments of drinking water reservoirs.

Characterization of non-taste & odor produced aerobic denitrification actinomycetes strains Streptomyces spp. isolated from reservoir ecosystem: Denitrification performance and carbon source metabolism

The aerobic denitrification performance of actinomycetes was investigated. Two strains of actinomycetes were isolated and identified as Streptomyces sp. LJH-12-1 and Streptomyces diastatochromogenes LJH-12-2. Strain LJH-12-1 could remove 94% of organic carbon and 91% of total nitrogen. Meanwhile, strain LJH-12-2 could reduce 96% of organic carbon and 93% of total nitrogen. Two strains of actinomycetes revealed excellent carbon source metabolism activity. Moreover, the total nitrogen removal efficiencies were 69%, and 54%, respectively for strains LJH-12-1, and LJH-12-2 during the micro-polluted landscape raw water treatment. Futhermore, strains LJH-12-1 and LJH-12-2 could utilize aromatic proteins, soluble microbial products, and humic acid to drive aerobic denitrification processes in the landscape water bodies. These results will provide a new insight into applying aerobic denitrification actinomycetes to treat micro-polluted water bodies.

Bacterial community structure and metabolic activity of drinking water pipelines in buildings: A new perspective on dual effects of hydrodynamic stagnation and algal organic matter invasion

Eutrophication and algal blooms have become global issues. The drinking water treatment process suffers from pollution by algal organic matter (AOM) through cell lysis during the algal blooms. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how AOM invasion affects water quality and microbial communities in drinking water, particularly in the stagnant settings. In this study, the addition of AOM caused the residual chlorine to rapidly degrade and below the limit of 0.05 mg/L, while the NO₂^--N concentration ranged from 0.11 to 3.71 mg/L. Additionally, total bacterial counts increased and subsequently decreased. The results of Biolog demonstrated that the AOM significantly improved the utilization capacity of carbon sources and changed the preference for carbon sources. Full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing and network modeling revealed a considerable reduction in the abundance of Proteobacteria, whereas that of Bacteroidetes increased significantly under the influence of AOM. Furthermore, the species abundance distributions of the Microcystis group and Scenedesmus group was most consistent with the Mandelbrot model. According to redundancy analysis and structural equation modeling, the bacterial community structure of the control group was most positively regulated by the free residual chlorine concentrations, whereas the Microcystis group and Scenedesmus group were positively correlated with the total organic carbon (TOC) concentration. Overall, these findings provide a scientific foundation for the evolution of drinking water quality under algae bloom pollution.

Mix-cultured aerobic denitrifying bacteria augmented carbon and nitrogen removal for micro-polluted water: Metabolic activity, coexistence and interactions, and immobilized bacteria for reservoir raw water treatment

Less attention has been paid on the oligotrophic water body nitrogen treatment with mix-cultured aerobic denitrifying bacteria (Mix-CADB). In this study, three Mix-CADB communities were screened from the sediments of reservoirs. The nitrate and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal efficiencies of Mix-CADB communities were higher than 92 % and 91 %, respectively. Biolog results suggested that Mix-CADB communities displayed excellent carbon source metabolic activity. The nirS gene sequencing indicated that Pseudomonas sp. and Pseudomonas stutzeri accounted for more proportions in the core species of three Mix-CADB communities. The network model revealed that Pseudomonas sp. and Pseudomonas stutzeri mainly drove the total nitrogen and DOC removal of Mix-CADB communities. More importantly, the immobilized Mix-CADB communities could reduce >91 % nitrate in the adjusted reservoir raw water. Overall, this study showed that the three Mix-CADB communities could be regarded as potential candidates for the nitrogen treatment in oligotrophic water body ecosystems.