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Ruiz-Haddad L, Ali M, Pronk M, van Loosdrecht MC, Saikaly PE. Demystifying polyphosphate-accumulating organisms relevant to wastewater treatment: A review of their phylogeny, metabolism, and detection. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ECOTECHNOLOGY 2024; 21:100387. [PMID: 38322240 PMCID: PMC10845257 DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2023] [Revised: 12/31/2023] [Accepted: 12/31/2023] [Indexed: 02/08/2024]
Abstract
Currently, the most cost-effective and efficient method for phosphorus (P) removal from wastewater is enhanced biological P removal (EPBR) via polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs). This study integrates a literature review with genomic analysis to uncover the phylogenetic and metabolic diversity of the relevant PAOs for wastewater treatment. The findings highlight significant differences in the metabolic capabilities of PAOs relevant to wastewater treatment. Notably, Candidatus Dechloromonas and Candidatus Accumulibacter can synthesize polyhydroxyalkanoates, possess specific enzymes for ATP production from polyphosphate, and have electrochemical transporters for acetate and C4-dicarboxylates. In contrast, Tetrasphaera, Candidatus Phosphoribacter, Knoellia, and Phycicoccus possess PolyP-glucokinase and electrochemical transporters for sugars/amino acids. Additionally, this review explores various detection methods for polyphosphate and PAOs in activated sludge wastewater treatment plants. Notably, FISH-Raman spectroscopy emerges as one of the most advanced detection techniques. Overall, this review provides critical insights into PAO research, underscoring the need for enhanced strategies in biological phosphorus removal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucia Ruiz-Haddad
- Environmental Science and Engineering Program, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
- Water Desalination and Reuse Center, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
| | - Muhammad Ali
- Department of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Dublin, 2, Ireland
| | - Mario Pronk
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2629 HZ, the Netherlands
| | | | - Pascal E. Saikaly
- Environmental Science and Engineering Program, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
- Water Desalination and Reuse Center, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
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2
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Carvalho VCF, Gan AZM, Shon A, Kolakovic S, Freitas EB, Reis MAM, Fradinho JC, Oehmen A. The phototrophic metabolic behaviour of Candidatus accumulibacter. WATER RESEARCH 2024; 259:121865. [PMID: 38851111 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2024] [Revised: 05/30/2024] [Accepted: 05/31/2024] [Indexed: 06/10/2024]
Abstract
The phototrophic capability of Candidatus Accumulibacter (Accumulibacter), a common polyphosphate accumulating organism (PAO) in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems, was investigated in this study. Accumulibacter is phylogenetically related to the purple bacteria Rhodocyclus from the family Rhodocyclaceae, which belongs to the class Betaproteobacteria. Rhodocyclus typically exhibits both chemoheterotrophic and phototrophic growth, however, limited studies have evaluated the phototrophic potential of Accumulibacter. To address this gap, short and extended light cycle tests were conducted using a highly enriched Accumulibacter culture (95%) to evaluate its responses to illumination. Results showed that, after an initial period of adaptation to light conditions (approximately 4-5 h), Accumulibacter exhibited complete phosphorus (P) uptake by utilising polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), and additionally by consuming glycogen, which contrasted with its typical aerobic metabolism. Mass, energy, and redox balance analyses demonstrated that Accumulibacter needed to employ phototrophic metabolism to meet its energy requirements. Calculations revealed that the light reactions contributed to the generation of, at least more than 67% of the ATP necessary for P uptake and growth. Extended light tests, spanning 21 days with dark/light cycles, suggested that Accumulibacter generated ATP through light during initial operation, however, it likely reverted to conventional anaerobic/aerobic metabolism under dark/light conditions due to microalgal growth in the mixed culture, contributing to oxygen production. In contrast, extended light tests with an enriched Tetrasphaera culture, lacking phototrophic genes in its genome, clearly demonstrated that phototrophic P uptake did not occur. These findings highlight the adaptive metabolic capabilities of Accumulibacter, enabling it to utilise phototrophic pathways for energy generation during oxygen deprivation, which holds the potential to advance phototrophic-EBPR technology development.
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Affiliation(s)
- V C F Carvalho
- Associate Laboratory i4HB - Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal; UCIBIO - Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
| | - A Z M Gan
- School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - A Shon
- School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - S Kolakovic
- Associate Laboratory i4HB - Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal; UCIBIO - Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
| | - E B Freitas
- Associate Laboratory i4HB - Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal; UCIBIO - Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
| | - M A M Reis
- Associate Laboratory i4HB - Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal; UCIBIO - Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
| | - J C Fradinho
- Associate Laboratory i4HB - Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal; UCIBIO - Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
| | - A Oehmen
- Associate Laboratory i4HB - Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal; UCIBIO - Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal; School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia.
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3
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Zhang R, He J, Wang M, Duan S, Zhang J. Nitrate and nitrite utilization during denitrifying phosphorus removal: Electron acceptor preference and feasible process combinations. BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY 2024; 406:131081. [PMID: 38977037 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2024.131081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2024] [Revised: 06/30/2024] [Accepted: 07/04/2024] [Indexed: 07/10/2024]
Abstract
Denitrifying phosphorus removal (DPR), which is dominated by denitrifying polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (DPAOs), is a promising process for nitrogen and phosphorus removal. Denitrifying glycogen-accumulating organisms (DGAOs) and DPAOs typically coexist in the DPR sludge, complicating the study of DPAOs' denitrification capacity. In this study, two reactors were fed with nitrate and nitrite during the anoxic phase to cultivate nitrate-DPR and nitrite-DPR sludge. Both reactors yielded high and low DGAO abundance sludges, enabling the evaluation of the denitrification capacity of DPAOs. For the nitrate-DPR sludge, the nitrite reduction rate was 1.63 times higher than the nitrate reduction rate when DPAOs were the primary denitrifiers. For the nitrite-DPR sludge, the reduction rate of nitrite was more than three times that of nitrate, irrespective of DGAO abundance. These findings indicated that DPAOs preferred nitrite to nitrate and were well suited to reduce nitrite rather than reduce nitrate to supply nitrite.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruimiao Zhang
- School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, Heilongjiang, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resources and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, Heilongjiang, PR China.
| | - Junguo He
- School of Civil Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Mengfei Wang
- School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, Heilongjiang, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resources and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, Heilongjiang, PR China
| | - Shengye Duan
- School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, Heilongjiang, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resources and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, Heilongjiang, PR China
| | - Jie Zhang
- School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, Heilongjiang, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resources and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, Heilongjiang, PR China
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4
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Nguyen Quoc B, Cavanaugh SK, Hunt KA, Bryson SJ, Winkler MKH. Impact of aerobic granular sludge sizes and dissolved oxygen concentration on greenhouse gas N 2O emission. WATER RESEARCH 2024; 255:121479. [PMID: 38520777 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Revised: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 03/25/2024]
Abstract
Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are known to produce nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas which has a ∼300 times higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide. In this research, we studied N2O emissions from different sizes of AGS developed at a dissolved oxygen (DO) level of 2 mgO2/L while exposing them to disturbances at various DO concentrations ranging from 1 to 4 mgO2/L. Five different AGS size classes were studied: 212-600 µm, 600-1000 µm, 1000-1400 µm, 1400-2000 µm, and > 2000 µm. Metagenomic data showed N2O reductase genes (nosZ) were more abundant in the smaller AGS sizes which aligned with the observation of higher N2O reduction rates in small AGS under anaerobic conditions. However, when oxygen was present, the activity measurements of N2O emission showed an opposite trend compared to metagenomic data, smaller AGS (212 to 1000 µm) emitted significantly higher N2O (p < 0.05) than larger AGS (1000 µm to >2000 µm) at DO of 2, 3, and 4 mgO2/L. The N2O emission rate showed positive correlation with both oxygen levels and nitrification rate. This pattern indicates a connection between N2O emission and nitrification. In addition, the data suggested the penetration of oxygen into the anoxic zone of granules might have hindered nitrous oxide reduction, resulting in incomplete denitrification stopping at N2O and consequently contributing to an increase in N2O emissions. This work sets the stage to better understand the impacts of AGS size on N2O emissions in WWTPs under different disturbance of DO conditions, and thus ensure that wastewater treatment will comply with possible future regulations demanding lowering greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bao Nguyen Quoc
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, United States.
| | - Shannon K Cavanaugh
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, United States
| | - Kristopher A Hunt
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, United States
| | - Samuel J Bryson
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, United States
| | - Mari K H Winkler
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, United States
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5
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Sayin A, Soleimanifar M, Rosenthal A, Jezek R, de Falco G, Ramalingam K, Fillos J. Evaluation of aircraft deicing fluid as an external carbon source for denitrification. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 925:171795. [PMID: 38508269 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Revised: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 03/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024]
Abstract
Water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) performing biological nitrogen removal (BNR) often require external carbon sources for meeting nitrogen discharge permit limits. This brings an additional financial burden to the facilities considering the continuous need of these external carbon sources. This paper evaluates the utilization of airport stormwater, which in the winter season is rich in aircraft deicing fluid (ADF) as an alternative external carbon source. Denitrification and nitrification bench scale experiments were performed to assess the efficacy of external carbon sources to remove nitrogen in WRRFs. Experimental results showed that ADFs achieve denitrification rates of 0.064-0.066 d-1, higher than what achieved by a commercial carbon source, MicroC 2000A, with corresponding value of 0.058 d-1 at low temperatures, as low as 13 °C, which is considered a worst-case scenario for nitrogen removal efficiency. Furthermore, no inhibition to nitrification associated with the ADFs was observed. Subsequently a dynamic modeling study was conducted to assess the performance of ADFs as external carbon sources for denitrification and compared them to the conventional source that was being used in a full-scale BNR process. Results from the dynamic modeling study revealed that if 40 % of the spent-ADF at LaGuardia airport, New York City, could be collected with the stormwater and conveyed to a WRRF via the sewer collection system, an approximate reduction of 30 % of the commercial external carbon source could be accomplished by repurposing a waste product. This study contributes to the potential of ADF as a denitrification aid and an alternative for commercially available carbon sources with comparable nitrogen removal efficiencies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aykut Sayin
- Department of Civil Engineering, City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, United States.
| | - Maedeh Soleimanifar
- Department of Civil Engineering, City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, United States
| | - Alex Rosenthal
- Department of Civil Engineering, City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, United States
| | - Roland Jezek
- Department of Civil Engineering, City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, United States
| | - Giacomo de Falco
- Department of Civil Engineering, City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, United States.
| | - Krish Ramalingam
- Department of Civil Engineering, City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, United States
| | - John Fillos
- Department of Civil Engineering, City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, United States
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6
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Xie X, Deng X, Chen J, Chen L, Yuan J, Chen H, Wei C, Liu X, Qiu G. Two new clades recovered at high temperatures provide novel phylogenetic and genomic insights into Candidatus Accumulibacter. ISME COMMUNICATIONS 2024; 4:ycae049. [PMID: 38808122 PMCID: PMC11131965 DOI: 10.1093/ismeco/ycae049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2024] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 05/30/2024]
Abstract
Candidatus Accumulibacter, a key genus of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms, plays key roles in lab- and full-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems. A total of 10 high-quality Ca. Accumulibacter genomes were recovered from EBPR systems operated at high temperatures, providing significantly updated phylogenetic and genomic insights into the Ca. Accumulibacter lineage. Among these genomes, clade IIF members SCELSE-3, SCELSE-4, and SCELSE-6 represent the to-date known genomes encoding a complete denitrification pathway, suggesting that Ca. Accumulibacter alone could achieve complete denitrification. Clade IIC members SSA1, SCUT-1, SCELCE-2, and SCELSE-8 lack the entire set of denitrifying genes, representing to-date known non-denitrifying Ca. Accumulibacter. A pan-genomic analysis with other Ca. Accumulibacter members suggested that all Ca. Accumulibacter likely has the potential to use dicarboxylic amino acids. Ca. Accumulibacter aalborgensis AALB and Ca. Accumulibacter affinis BAT3C720 seemed to be the only two members capable of using glucose for EBPR. A heat shock protein Hsp20 encoding gene was found exclusively in genomes recovered at high temperatures, which was absent in clades IA, IC, IG, IIA, IIB, IID, IIG, and II-I members. High transcription of this gene in clade IIC members SCUT-2 and SCUT-3 suggested its role in surviving high temperatures for Ca. Accumulibacter. Ambiguous clade identity was observed for newly recovered genomes (SCELSE-9 and SCELSE-10). Five machine learning models were developed using orthogroups as input features. Prediction results suggested that they belong to a new clade (IIK). The phylogeny of Ca. Accumulibacter was re-evaluated based on the laterally derived polyphosphokinase 2 gene, showing improved resolution in differentiating different clades.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaojing Xie
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xuhan Deng
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Jinling Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Liping Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Jing Yuan
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Hang Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Chaohai Wei
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xianghui Liu
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Guanglei Qiu
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore
- The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China
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7
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Chen L, Wei G, Zhang Y, Wang K, Wang C, Deng X, Li Y, Xie X, Chen J, Huang F, Chen H, Zhang B, Wei C, Qiu G. Candidatus Accumulibacter use fermentation products for enhanced biological phosphorus removal. WATER RESEARCH 2023; 246:120713. [PMID: 37839225 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2023] [Revised: 09/17/2023] [Accepted: 10/07/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Previous research suggested that two major groups of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs), i.e., Ca. Accumulibacter and Tetrasphaera, play cooperative roles in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR). The fermentation of complex organic compounds by Tetrasphaera provides carbon sources for Ca. Accumulibacter. However, the viability of the fermentation products (e.g., lactate, succinate, alanine) as carbon sources for Ca. Accumulibacter and their potential effects on the metabolism of Ca. Accumulibacter were largely unknown. This work for the first time investigated the capability and metabolic details of Ca. Accumulibacter cognatus clade IIC strain SCUT-2 (enriched in a lab-scale reactor with a relative abundance of 42.8%) in using these fermentation products for EBPR. The enrichment culture was able to assimilate lactate and succinate with the anaerobic P release to carbon uptake ratios of 0.28 and 0.36 P mol/C mol, respectively. In the co-presence of acetate, the uptake of lactate was strongly inhibited, since two substrates shared the same transporter as suggested by the carbon uptake bioenergetic analysis. When acetate and succinate were fed at the same time, Ca. Accumulibacter assimilated two carbon sources simultaneously. Proton motive force (PMF) was the key driving force (up to 90%) for the uptake of lactate and succinate by Ca. Accumulibacter. Apart from the efflux of proton in symport with phosphate via the inorganic phosphate transport system, translocation of proton via the activity of fumarate reductase contributed to the generation of PMF, which agreed with the fact that PHV was a major component of PHA when lactate and succinate were used as carbon sources, involving the succinate-propionate pathway. Metabolic models for the usage of lactate and succinate by Ca. Accumulibacter for EBPR were built based on the combined physiological, biochemical, metagenomic, and metatranscriptomic analyses. Alanine was shown as an invalid carbon source for Ca. Accumulibacter. Instead, it significantly and adversely affected Ca. Accumulibacter-mediated EBPR. Phosphate release was observed without alanine uptake. Significant inhibitions on the aerobic phosphate uptake was also evident. Overall, this study suggested that there might not be a simply synergic relationship between Ca. Accumulibacter and Tetrasphaera. Their interactions would largely be determined by the kind of fermentation products released by the latter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liping Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Gengrui Wei
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Yushen Zhang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Kaiying Wang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Cenchao Wang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Xuhan Deng
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Yaqian Li
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Xiaojing Xie
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Jinling Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Fu Huang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Hang Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Bin Zhang
- School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Chaohai Wei
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, Guangzhou 510006, PR China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration in Industrial Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
| | - Guanglei Qiu
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, Guangzhou 510006, PR China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration in Industrial Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
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8
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Wang Z, Song W, Zhang X, Zheng M, Li H, Yu K, Guo F. Expanding the Diversity of Accumulibacter with a Novel Type and Deciphering the Transcriptional and Morphological Features among Co-Occurring Strains. Appl Environ Microbiol 2023; 89:e0077123. [PMID: 37466435 PMCID: PMC10467341 DOI: 10.1128/aem.00771-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Accepted: 06/25/2023] [Indexed: 07/20/2023] Open
Abstract
"Candidatus Accumulibacter" is the major polyphosphate-accumulating organism (PAO) in global wastewater treatment systems, and its phylogenetic and functional diversity have expanded in recent years. In addition to the widely recognized type I and II sublineages, we discovered a novel type enriched in laboratory bioreactors. Core gene and machine learning-based gene feature profiling supported the assertion that type III "Ca. Accumulibacter" is a potential PAO with the unique function of using dimethyl sulfoxide as an electron acceptor. Based on the correlation between ppk1 and genome similarity, the species-level richness of Accumulibacter was estimated to be over 100, suggesting that the currently recognized species are only the tip of the iceberg. Meanwhile, the interstrain transcriptional and morphological features of multiple "Ca. Accumulibacter" strains co-occurring in a bioreactor were investigated. Metatranscriptomics of seven co-occurring strains indicated that the expression level and interphasic dynamics of PAO phenotype-related genes had minimal correlation with their phylogeny. In particular, the expression of denitrifying and polyphosphate (poly-P) metabolism genes exhibited higher interstrain and interphasic divergence than expression of glycogen and polyhydroxyalkanoate metabolic genes. A strategy of cloning rRNA genes from different strains based on similar genomic synteny was successfully applied to differentiate their morphology via fluorescence in situ hybridization. Our study further expands the phylogenetic and functional diversity of "Ca. Accumulibacter" and proposes that deciphering the function and capability of certain "Ca. Accumulibacter" should be tailored to the environment and population in question. IMPORTANCE In the last 2 decades, "Ca. Accumulibacter" has garnered significant attention as the core functional but uncultured taxon for enhanced biological phosphorus removal due to its phylogenetic and functional diversity and intragenus niche differentiation. Since 2002, it has been widely known that this genus has two sublineages (type I and II). However, in this study, a metagenomic approach led to the discovery of a novel type (type III) with proposed novel functional features. By comparing the average nucleotide identity of "Ca. Accumulibacter" genomes and the similarity of ppk1, a phylogenetic biomarker largely deposited in databases, the global species-level richness of "Ca. Accumulibacter" was estimated for the first time to be over 100. Furthermore, we observed the co-occurrence of multiple "Ca. Accumulibacter" strains in a single bioreactor and found the simultaneous transcriptional divergence of these strains intriguing with regard to their niche differentiation within a single community. Our results indicated a decoupling feature between transcriptional pattern and phylogeny for co-occurring strains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhongjie Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
| | - Wei Song
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
| | - Xue Zhang
- School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Minjia Zheng
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
| | - Hao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
| | - Ke Yu
- School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Feng Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, China
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9
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Deng X, Yuan J, Chen L, Chen H, Wei C, Nielsen PH, Wuertz S, Qiu G. CRISPR-Cas phage defense systems and prophages in Candidatus Accumulibacter. WATER RESEARCH 2023; 235:119906. [PMID: 37004306 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.119906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Revised: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/21/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Candidatus Accumulibacter plays a major role in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) from wastewater. Although bacteriophages have been shown to represent fatal threats to Ca. Accumulibacter organisms and thus interfere with the stability of the EBPR process, little is known about the ability of different Ca. Accumulibacter strains to resist phage infections. We conducted a systematic analysis of the occurrence and characteristics of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and associated proteins (CRISPR-Cas) systems and prophages in Ca. Accumulibacter lineage members (43 in total, including 10 newly recovered genomes). Results indicate that 28 Ca. Accumulibacter genomes encode CRISPR-Cas systems. They were likely acquired via horizontal gene transfer, conveying a distinct adaptivity to phage predation to different Ca. Accumulibacter members. Major differences in the number of spacers show the unique phage resistance of these members. A comparison of the spacers in closely related Ca. Accumulibacter members from distinct geographical locations indicates that habitat isolation may have resulted in the acquisition of resistance to different phages by different Ca. Accumulibacter. Long-term operation of three laboratory-scale EBPR bioreactors revealed high relative abundances of Ca. Accumulibacter with CRISPSR-Cas systems. Their specific resistance to phages in these reactors was indicated by spacer analysis. Metatranscriptomic analyses showed the activation of the CRISPR-Cas system under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Additionally, 133 prophage regions were identified in 43 Ca. Accumulibacter genomes. Twenty-seven of them (in 19 genomes) were potentially active. Major differences in the occurrence of CRISPR-Cas systems and prophages in Ca. Accumulibacter will lead to distinct responses to phage predation. This study represents the first systematic analysis of CRISPR-Cas systems and prophages in the Ca. Accumulibacter lineage, providing new perspectives on the potential impacts of phages on Ca. Accumulibacter and EBPR systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuhan Deng
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Jing Yuan
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Liping Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Hang Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Chaohai Wei
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Per H Nielsen
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; Centre for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg DK-9220, Denmark
| | - Stefan Wuertz
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
| | - Guanglei Qiu
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, Guangzhou 510006, China.
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10
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Wang X, Shi C, Pan W, Lu H, Zhang X. Variation in the quantity and composition of phosphorus accumulating organisms in activated sludge driven by nitrate-nitrogen. KOREAN J CHEM ENG 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s11814-022-1349-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/15/2023]
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11
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Reevaluation of the Phylogenetic Diversity and Global Distribution of the Genus " Candidatus Accumulibacter". mSystems 2022; 7:e0001622. [PMID: 35467400 PMCID: PMC9238405 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00016-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
“Candidatus Accumulibacter” was the first microorganism identified as a polyphosphate-accumulating organism (PAO) important for phosphorus removal from wastewater. Members of this genus are diverse, and the current phylogeny and taxonomic framework appear complicated, with most publicly available genomes classified as “Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis,” despite notable phylogenetic divergence. The ppk1 marker gene allows for a finer-scale differentiation into different “types” and “clades”; nevertheless, taxonomic assignments remain inconsistent across studies. Therefore, a comprehensive reevaluation is needed to establish a common understanding of this genus, in terms of both naming and basic conserved physiological traits. Here, we provide this reassessment using a comparison of genome, ppk1, and 16S rRNA gene-based approaches from comprehensive data sets. We identified 15 novel species, along with “Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis,” “Candidatus Accumulibacter delftensis,” and “Candidatus Accumulibacter aalborgensis.” To compare the species in situ, we designed new species-specific fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) probes and revealed their morphology and arrangement in activated sludge. Based on the MiDAS global survey, “Ca. Accumulibacter” species were widespread in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with phosphorus removal, indicating process design as a major driver for their abundance. Genome mining for PAO-related pathways and FISH-Raman microspectroscopy confirmed the potential for PAO metabolism in all “Ca. Accumulibacter” species, with detection in situ of the typical PAO storage polymers. Genome annotation further revealed differences in the nitrate/nitrite reduction pathways. This provides insights into the niche differentiation of these lineages, potentially explaining their coexistence in the same ecosystem while contributing to overall phosphorus and nitrogen removal. IMPORTANCE “Candidatus Accumulibacter” is the most studied PAO, with a primary role in biological nutrient removal. However, the species-level taxonomy of this lineage is convoluted due to the use of different phylogenetic markers or genome sequencing approaches. Here, we redefined the phylogeny of these organisms, proposing a comprehensive approach which could be used to address the classification of other diverse and uncultivated lineages. Using genome-resolved phylogeny, compared to phylogeny based on the 16S rRNA gene and other phylogenetic markers, we obtained a higher-resolution taxonomy and established a common understanding of this genus. Furthermore, genome mining of genes and pathways of interest, validated in situ by application of a new set of FISH probes and Raman microspectroscopy, provided additional high-resolution metabolic insights into these organisms.
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12
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Haryono MAS, Law YY, Arumugam K, Liew LCW, Nguyen TQN, Drautz-Moses DI, Schuster SC, Wuertz S, Williams RBH. Recovery of High Quality Metagenome-Assembled Genomes From Full-Scale Activated Sludge Microbial Communities in a Tropical Climate Using Longitudinal Metagenome Sampling. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:869135. [PMID: 35756038 PMCID: PMC9230771 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.869135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The analysis of metagenome data based on the recovery of draft genomes (so called metagenome-assembled genomes, or MAG) has assumed an increasingly central role in microbiome research in recent years. Microbial communities underpinning the operation of wastewater treatment plants are particularly challenging targets for MAG analysis due to their high ecological complexity, and remain important, albeit understudied, microbial communities that play ssa key role in mediating interactions between human and natural ecosystems. Here we consider strategies for recovery of MAG sequence from time series metagenome surveys of full-scale activated sludge microbial communities. We generate MAG catalogs from this set of data using several different strategies, including the use of multiple individual sample assemblies, two variations on multi-sample co-assembly and a recently published MAG recovery workflow using deep learning. We obtain a total of just under 9,100 draft genomes, which collapse to around 3,100 non-redundant genomic clusters. We examine the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches in relation to MAG yield and quality, showing that co-assembly may offer advantages over single-sample assembly in the case of metagenome data obtained from closely sampled longitudinal study designs. Around 1,000 MAGs were candidates for being considered high quality, based on single-copy marker gene occurrence statistics, however only 58 MAG formally meet the MIMAG criteria for being high quality draft genomes. These findings carry broader broader implications for performing genome-resolved metagenomics on highly complex communities, the design and implementation of genome recoverability strategies, MAG decontamination and the search for better binning methodology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mindia A S Haryono
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ying Yu Law
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Krithika Arumugam
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Larry C-W Liew
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Thi Quynh Ngoc Nguyen
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Daniela I Drautz-Moses
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Stephan C Schuster
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.,School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Stefan Wuertz
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.,School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Rohan B H Williams
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
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13
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Chen L, Chen H, Hu Z, Tian Y, Wang C, Xie P, Deng X, Zhang Y, Tang X, Lin X, Li B, Wei C, Qiu G. Carbon uptake bioenergetics of PAOs and GAOs in full-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal systems. WATER RESEARCH 2022; 216:118258. [PMID: 35320769 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.118258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2021] [Revised: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
This work analyzed, for the first time, the bioenergetics of PAOs and GAOs in full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for the uptake of different carbon sources. Fifteen samples were collected from five full-scale WWTPs. Predominance of different PAOs, i.e., Ca. Accumulibacter (0.00-0.49%), Tetrasphaera (0.37-3.94%), Microlunatus phosphovorus (0.01-0.18%), etc., and GAOs, i.e., Ca. Competibacter (0.08-5.39%), Defluviicoccus (0.05-5.34%), Micropruina (0.17-1.87%), etc., were shown by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Despite the distinct PAO/GAO community compositions in different samples, proton motive force (PMF) was found as the key driving force (up to 90.1%) for the uptake of volatile fatty acids (VFAs, acetate and propionate) and amino acids (glutamate and aspartate) by both GAOs and PAOs at the community level, contrasting the previous understanding that Defluviicoccus have a low demand of PMF for acetate uptake. For the uptake of acetate or propionate, PAOs rarely activated F1, F0- ATPase (< 11.7%) or fumarate reductase (< 5.3%) for PMF generation; whereas, intensive involvements of these two pathways (up to 49.2% and 61.0%, respectively) were observed for GAOs, highlighting a major and community-level difference in their VFA uptake biogenetics in full-scale systems. However, different from VFAs, the uptake of glutamate and aspartate by both PAOs and GAOs commonly involved fumarate reductase and F1, F0-ATPase activities. Apart from these major and community-level differences, high level fine-scale micro-diversity in carbon uptake bioenergetics was observed within PAO and GAO lineages, probably resulting from their versatilities in employing different pathways for reducing power generation. Ca. Accumulibacter and Halomonas seemed to show higher dependency on the reverse operation of F1, F0-ATPase than other PAOs, likely due to the low involvement of glyoxylate shunt pathway. Unlike Tetrasphaera, but similar to Ca. Accumulibacter, Microlunatus phosphovorus took up glutamate and aspartate via the proton/glutamate-aspartate symporter driven by PMF. This feature was testified using a pure culture of Microlunatus phosphovorus stain NM-1. The major difference between PAOs and GAOs highlights the potential to selectively suppress GAOs for community regulation in EBPR systems. The finer-scale carbon uptake bioenergetics of PAOs or GAOs from different lineages benefits in understanding their interactions in community assembly in complex environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liping Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Hang Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Zekun Hu
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yucheng Tian
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Cenchao Wang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Peiran Xie
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xuhan Deng
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yushen Zhang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xia Tang
- Guangzhou Sewage Purification Co., Ltd, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xueran Lin
- Guangzhou Sewage Purification Co., Ltd, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Biqing Li
- Guangzhou Sewage Purification Co., Ltd, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Chaohai Wei
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration in Industrial Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Guanglei Qiu
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration in Industrial Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China.
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14
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Luo K, Chen L, Du L, Zhao Y, Chen Q. Response of the aerobic denitrifying phosphorus accumulating bacteria Pseudomonas psychrophila HA-2 to low temperature and zinc oxide nanoparticles stress. BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY 2022; 354:127162. [PMID: 35429594 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2022] [Revised: 04/09/2022] [Accepted: 04/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Performance and molecular changes of an aerobic denitrifying phosphorus accumulating bacteria Pseudomonas psychrophila HA-2 have been investigated under different temperatures and ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) exposures. Strain HA-2 removed 95.7% of total nitrogen (TN) and 24.6% of phosphorus at 10 °C, which was attributed to the joint up-regulation of intracellular energy metabolism and ribosome. Moreover, with the increase of ZnO NPs from 0 to 100 mg/L, TN and phosphurs removal efficiencies decreased from 95.7% to 44.5% and 24.6% to 6.8% at 10 °C, respectively, whereas phosphorus removal rate increased from 10.5% to 24.5% at 20 °C. Further transcriptomics and proteomics revealed that significant down-regulation of purine and amino acid metabolisms was the main reason for the inhibitory effect at 10 °C, while the up-regulation of antioxidant pathways and functional genes expressions was responsible for the promoted phosphorus accumulation at 20 °C. This study provides a potential solution for improving biological nutrients removal processes in winter months.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kongyan Luo
- College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100871, PR China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of All Material Fluxes in River Ecosystems, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Long Chen
- College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100871, PR China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of All Material Fluxes in River Ecosystems, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Lei Du
- College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100871, PR China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of All Material Fluxes in River Ecosystems, Beijing 100871, China; College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing 100081, China
| | - Yuanyi Zhao
- College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100871, PR China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of All Material Fluxes in River Ecosystems, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Qian Chen
- College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100871, PR China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of All Material Fluxes in River Ecosystems, Beijing 100871, China.
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15
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Bessarab I, Maszenan AM, Haryono MAS, Arumugam K, Saw NMMT, Seviour RJ, Williams RBH. Comparative Genomics of Members of the Genus Defluviicoccus With Insights Into Their Ecophysiological Importance. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:834906. [PMID: 35495637 PMCID: PMC9041414 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.834906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Members of the genus Defluviicoccus occur often at high abundances in activated sludge wastewater treatment plants designed to remove phosphorus, where biomass is subjected to alternating anaerobic feed/aerobic famine conditions, believed to favor the proliferation of organisms like Ca. Accumulibacter and other phosphate-accumulating organisms (PAO), and Defluviicoccus. All have a capacity to assimilate readily metabolizable substrates and store them intracellularly during the anaerobic feed stage so that under the subsequent famine aerobic stage, these can be used to synthesize polyphosphate reserves by the PAO and glycogen by Defluviicoccus. Consequently, Defluviicoccus is described as a glycogen-accumulating organism or GAO. Because they share a similar anaerobic phenotype, it has been proposed that at high Defluviicoccus abundance, the PAO are out-competed for assimilable metabolites anaerobically, and hence aerobic P removal capacity is reduced. Several Defluviicoccus whole genome sequences have been published (Ca. Defluviicoccus tetraformis, Defluviicoccus GAO-HK, and Ca. Defluviicoccus seviourii). The available genomic data of these suggest marked metabolic differences between them, some of which have ecophysiological implications. Here, we describe the whole genome sequence of the type strain Defluviicoccus vanusT, the only cultured member of this genus, and a detailed comparative re-examination of all extant Defluviicoccus genomes. Each, with one exception, which appears not to be a member of this genus, contains the genes expected of GAO members, in possessing multiple copies of those for glycogen biosynthesis and catabolism, and anaerobic polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthesis. Both 16S rRNA and genome sequence data suggest that the current recognition of four clades is insufficient to embrace their phylogenetic biodiversity, but do not support the view that they should be re-classified into families other than their existing location in the Rhodospirillaceae. As expected, considerable variations were seen in the presence and numbers of genes encoding properties associated with key substrate assimilation and metabolic pathways. Two genomes also carried the pit gene for synthesis of the low-affinity phosphate transport protein, pit, considered by many to distinguish all PAO from GAO. The data re-emphasize the risks associated with extrapolating the data generated from a single Defluviicoccus population to embrace all members of that genus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irina Bessarab
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Abdul Majid Maszenan
- Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.,NUS Environmental Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Mindia A S Haryono
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Krithika Arumugam
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Nay Min Min Thaw Saw
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Robert J Seviour
- School of Life Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Rohan B H Williams
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
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16
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Adler A, Poirier S, Pagni M, Maillard J, Holliger C. Disentangle genus microdiversity within a complex microbial community by using a multi-distance long-read binning method: example of Candidatus Accumulibacter. Environ Microbiol 2022; 24:2136-2156. [PMID: 35315560 PMCID: PMC9311429 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.15947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2021] [Accepted: 02/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Complete genomes can be recovered from metagenomes by assembling and binning DNA sequences into metagenome assembled genomes (MAGs). Yet, the presence of microdiversity can hamper the assembly and binning processes, possibly yielding chimeric, highly fragmented and incomplete genomes. Here, the metagenomes of four samples of aerobic granular sludge bioreactors containing Candidatus (Ca.) Accumulibacter, a phosphate-accumulating organism of interest for wastewater treatment, were sequenced with both PacBio and Illumina. Different strategies of genome assembly and binning were investigated, including published protocols and a binning procedure adapted to the binning of long contigs (MuLoBiSC). Multiple criteria were considered to select the best strategy for Ca. Accumulibacter, whose multiple strains in every sample represent a challenging microdiversity. In this case, the best strategy relies on long-read only assembly and a custom binning procedure including MuLoBiSC in metaWRAP. Several high-quality Ca. Accumulibacter MAGs, including a novel species, were obtained independently from different samples. Comparative genomic analysis showed that MAGs retrieved in different samples harbour genomic rearrangements in addition to accumulation of point mutations. The microdiversity of Ca. Accumulibacter, likely driven by mobile genetic elements, causes major difficulties in recovering MAGs, but it is also a hallmark of the panmictic lifestyle of these bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aline Adler
- Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Simon Poirier
- Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Marco Pagni
- Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.,Vital-IT Group, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Julien Maillard
- Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.,IFP Energie nouvelles, 1 et 4 avenue de Bois-Préau, 92852, Rueil-Malmaison Cedex, France
| | - Christof Holliger
- Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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17
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Kyndt JA, Aviles FA, Imhoff JF, Künzel S, Neulinger SC, Meyer TE. Comparative Genome Analysis of the Photosynthetic Betaproteobacteria of the Genus Rhodocyclus: Heterogeneity within Strains Assigned to Rhodocyclus tenuis and Description of Rhodocyclus gracilis sp. nov. as a New Species. Microorganisms 2022; 10:microorganisms10030649. [PMID: 35336224 PMCID: PMC8954225 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10030649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2022] [Revised: 03/11/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
The genome sequences for Rhodocyclus purpureus DSM 168T and four strains assigned to Rhodocyclus tenuis (DSM 110, DSM 111, DSM 112, and IM 230) have been determined. One of the strains studied (IM 230) has an average nucleotide identity (ANI) of 97% to the recently reported genome of the type strain DSM 109 of Rcy. tenuis and is regarded as virtually identical at the species level. The ANI of 80% for three other strains (DSM 110, DSM 111, DSM 112) to the type strain of Rcy. tenuis points to a differentiation of these at the species level. Rcy. purpureus is equidistant from Rcy. tenuis and the new species, based on both ANI (78–80%) and complete proteome comparisons (70% AAI). Strains DSM 110, DSM 111, and DSM 112 are very closely related to each other based on ANI, whole genome, and proteome comparisons but clearly distinct from the Rcy. tenuis type strain DSM 109. In addition to the whole genome differentiation, these three strains also contain unique genetic differences in cytochrome genes and contain genes for an anaerobic cobalamin synthesis pathway that is lacking from both Rcy. tenuis and Rcy. purpureus. Based on genomic and genetic differences, these three strains should be considered to represent a new species, which is distinctly different from both Rcy. purpureus and Rcy. tenuis, for which the new name Rhodocyclus gracilis sp. nov. is proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- John A. Kyndt
- College of Science and Technology, Bellevue University, Bellevue, NE 68005, USA;
- Correspondence:
| | - Fabiola A. Aviles
- College of Science and Technology, Bellevue University, Bellevue, NE 68005, USA;
| | - Johannes F. Imhoff
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, RD3 Marine Symbioses, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany;
| | - Sven Künzel
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, 24306 Plön, Germany;
| | | | - Terrance E. Meyer
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA;
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18
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Chen G, Bai R, Zhang Y, Zhao B, Xiao Y. Application of metagenomics to biological wastewater treatment. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 807:150737. [PMID: 34606860 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Revised: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Biological wastewater treatment is a process in which the microbial metabolism of complex communities transforms pollutants into low- or non-toxic products. Due to the absence of an in-depth understanding of the diversity and complexity of microbial communities, it is very likely to ignore the potential mechanisms of microbial community in wastewater treatment. Metagenomics is a technology based on molecular biology, in which massive gene sequences are obtained from environmental samples and analyzed by bioinformatics to determine the composition and function of a microbial community. Metagenomics can identify the state of microbes in their native environments more effectively than traditional molecular methods. This review summarizes the application of metagenomics to assess microbial communities in biological wastewater treatment, such as the biological removal of phosphorus and nitrogen by bacteria, the study of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and the reduction of heavy metals by microbial communities, with an emphasis on the contribution of microbial diversity and metabolic diversity. Technical bottlenecks in the application of metagenomics to biological wastewater treatment are elucidated, and future research directions for metagenomics are proposed, among which the application of multi-omics will be an important research method for future biological wastewater treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geng Chen
- CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, Fujian 361021, PR China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China
| | - Rui Bai
- CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, Fujian 361021, PR China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China
| | - Yiqing Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, Fujian 361021, PR China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China
| | - Biyi Zhao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, Fujian 361021, PR China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China
| | - Yong Xiao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, Fujian 361021, PR China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.
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19
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Tian Y, Chen H, Chen L, Deng X, Hu Z, Wang C, Wei C, Qiu G, Wuertz S. Glycine adversely affects enhanced biological phosphorus removal. WATER RESEARCH 2022; 209:117894. [PMID: 34890912 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Revised: 11/04/2021] [Accepted: 11/21/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) is used extensively in full-scale wastewater treatment plants for the removal of phosphorus. Despite previous evidence showing that glycine is a carbon source for a certain lineage of polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) such as Tetrasphaera, it is still unknown whether glycine can support EBPR. We observed an overall adverse effect of glycine on EBPR using activated sludge from both full-scale wastewater treatment plants and lab-scale reactors harboring distant and diverse PAOs and glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs), including Candidatus Accumulibacter, Thiothrix, Tetrasphaera, Dechloromonas, Ca. Competibacter, and Defluviicoccus, among others. Glycine induced phosphorus (P) release under anaerobic conditions without being effectively taken up by cells. The induced P release rate correlated with glycine concentration in the range of 10 to 50 mg C/L. PAOs continued to release P in the presence of glycine under aerobic conditions without any evident P uptake. Under mixed carbon conditions, the occurrence of glycine did not seem to affect acetate uptake; however, it significantly reduced the rate of P uptake in the aerobic phase. Overall, glycine did not appear to be an effective carbon source for a majority of PAOs and GAOs in full-scale and lab-scale systems, and neither did other community members utilize glycine under anaerobic or aerobic conditions. Metatranscriptomic analysis showed the transcription of glycine cleavage T, P and H protein genes, but not of the L protein or the downstream genes in the glycine cleavage pathway, suggesting barriers to metabolizing glycine. The high transcription of a gene encoding a drug/metabolite transporter suggests a potential efflux mechanism, where glycine transported into the cells is in turn exported at the expense of ATP, resulting in P release without affecting the glycine concentration in solution. The ability of glycine to induce P release without cellular uptake suggests a way to effectively recover P from P-enriched waste sludge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yucheng Tian
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Hang Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Liping Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xuhan Deng
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Zekun Hu
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Cenchao Wang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Chaohai Wei
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration in Industrial Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Guanglei Qiu
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration in Industrial Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China.
| | - Stefan Wuertz
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
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20
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Recovery of Phosphorus in Wastewater in the Form of Polyphosphates: A Review. Processes (Basel) 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/pr10010144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
As non-renewable resource, the recovery and utilization of phosphorus from wastewater is an enduring topic. Stimulated by the advances in research on polyphosphates (polyP) as well as the development of Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR) technology to achieve the efficient accumulation of polyP via polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs), a novel phosphorus removal strategy is considered with promising potential for application in real wastewater treatment processes. This review mainly focuses on the mechanism of phosphorus aggregation in the form of polyP during the phosphate removal process. Further discussion about the reuse of polyP with different chain lengths is provided herein so as to suggest possible application pathways for this biosynthetic product.
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21
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Petriglieri F, Singleton C, Peces M, Petersen JF, Nierychlo M, Nielsen PH. "Candidatus Dechloromonas phosphoritropha" and "Ca. D. phosphorivorans", novel polyphosphate accumulating organisms abundant in wastewater treatment systems. THE ISME JOURNAL 2021; 15:3605-3614. [PMID: 34155336 PMCID: PMC8630035 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-021-01029-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2020] [Revised: 05/22/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Members of the genus Dechloromonas are often abundant in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems and are recognized putative polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs), but their role in phosphate removal is still unclear. Here, we used 16S rRNA gene sequencing and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to investigate the abundance and distribution of Dechloromonas spp. in Danish and global wastewater treatment plants. The two most abundant species worldwide revealed in situ dynamics of important intracellular storage polymers, measured by FISH-Raman in activated sludge from four full-scale EBPR plants and from a lab-scale reactor fed with different substrates. Moreover, seven distinct Dechloromonas species were determined from a set of ten high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from Danish EBPR plants, each encoding the potential for polyphosphate (poly-P), glycogen, and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) accumulation. The two species exhibited an in situ phenotype in complete accordance with the metabolic information retrieved by the MAGs, with dynamic levels of poly-P, glycogen, and PHA during feast-famine anaerobic-aerobic cycling, legitimately placing these microorganisms among the important PAOs. They are potentially involved in denitrification showing niche partitioning within the genus and with other important PAOs. As no isolates are available for the two species, we propose the names Candidatus Dechloromonas phosphoritropha and Candidatus Dechloromonas phosphorivorans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Petriglieri
- Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Caitlin Singleton
- Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Miriam Peces
- Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Jette F Petersen
- Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Marta Nierychlo
- Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Per H Nielsen
- Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
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22
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Jiang L, Liu Y, Guo F, Zhou Z, Jiang J, You Z, Wang Q, Wang Z, Wu Z. Evaluation of nutrient removal performance and resource recovery potential of anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic membrane bioreactor with limited aeration. BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY 2021; 340:125728. [PMID: 34385130 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125728] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Revised: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 08/04/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
This study proposes a novel strategy to obtain high-efficiency synchronous removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater by the limited-aeration anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic membrane bioreactor (AAO-MBR) and evaluates its resource recovery potential. Effects of membrane flux on pollutants removal and membrane fouling were investigated, and the optimal flux of 30 L/(m2·h) was obtained with efficient nitrogen and phosphorus removal of 81.5 ± 6.1% and 96.7 ± 2.1%. Compared with traditional and chemical-aided AAO-MBRs, limited-aeration AAO-MBR also alleviated membrane fouling by enlarging sludge flocs, improved sludge activities, and enriched the functional bacteria and genes. The sludge denitrification activity and phosphorus uptake activity of the limited-aeration AAO-MBR were 1.7 and 4.2 times as those of the traditional AAO-MBR. Low-temperature sludge pyrolysis results showed that sludge from limited-aeration AAO-MBR had higher nutrient storage and release capacity. This study proved the efficient nutrient removal capacity and high resource recovery potential of the limited-aeration AAO-MBR process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lingyan Jiang
- Tongji University, Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Chengtou Water (Group) Co., Ltd, Shanghai 200002, China
| | - Yun Liu
- Tongji University, Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai 200092, China
| | - Fanjin Guo
- Xiamen Urban Planning and Design Institute, Xiamen 361001, China
| | - Zhen Zhou
- Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Energy - Saving in Heat Exchange Systems, Shanghai University of Electric Power, Shanghai 200090, China
| | - Jie Jiang
- Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Energy - Saving in Heat Exchange Systems, Shanghai University of Electric Power, Shanghai 200090, China
| | - Zhangchao You
- Tongji University, Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai 200092, China
| | - Qiaoying Wang
- Tongji University, Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai 200092, China.
| | - Zhiwei Wang
- Tongji University, Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai 200092, China
| | - Zhichao Wu
- Tongji University, Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai 200092, China
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23
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Srinivasan VN, Li G, Wang D, Tooker NB, Dai Z, Onnis-Hayden A, Bott C, Dombrowski P, Schauer P, Pinto A, Gu AZ. Oligotyping and metagenomics reveal distinct Candidatus Accumulibacter communities in side-stream versus conventional full-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems. WATER RESEARCH 2021; 206:117725. [PMID: 34653799 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2021] [Revised: 09/23/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis (CAP) and its clade-level micro-diversity has been associated with and implicated in functional differences in phosphorus removal performance in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems. Side-stream EBPR (S2EBPR) is an emerging process that has been shown to present a suite of advantages over the conventional EBPR design, however, large knowledge gaps remain in terms of its underlying ecological mechanisms. Here, we compared and revealed the higher-resolution differences in microbial ecology of CAP between a full-scale side-stream EBPR configuration and a conventional A2O EBPR process that were operated in parallel and with the same influent feed. Even though the relative abundance of CAP, revealed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, was similar in both treatment trains, a clade-level analysis, using combined 16S rRNA-gene based amplicon sequencing and oligotyping analysis and metagenomics analysis, revealed the distinct CAP microdiversity between the S2EBPR and A2O configurations that likely attributed to the improved performance in S2EBPR in comparison to conventional EBPR. Furthermore, genome-resolved metagenomics enabled extraction of three metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) belonging to CAP clades IIB (RCAB4-2), IIC (RC14) and II (RC18), from full-scale EBPR sludge for the first time, including a distinct Ca. Accumulibacter clade that is dominant and associated only with the S2EBPR configuration. The results also revealed the temporally increasing predominance of RC14, which belonged to Clade IIC, during the implementation of the S2EBPR configuration. Finally, we also show the existence of previously uncharacterized diversity of clades of CAP, namely the clades IIB and as yet unidentified clade of type II, in full-scale EBPR communities, highlighting the unknown diversity of CAP communities in full-scale EBPR systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Varun N Srinivasan
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, United States; Brown and Caldwell, One Tech Drive, Andover, MA 01810, United States
| | - Guangyu Li
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Dongqi Wang
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, United States; State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710048, China
| | - Nicholas B Tooker
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, United States; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, MA 01002, United States
| | - Zihan Dai
- Infrastructure and Environment Division, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, United Kingdom
| | - Annalisa Onnis-Hayden
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Charles Bott
- Hampton Roads Sanitation District, 1434 Air Rail Avenue, Virginia Beach, VA 23454, United States
| | - Paul Dombrowski
- Woodard & Curran, Inc., 1699 King Street, Enfield, CT 06082, United States
| | - Peter Schauer
- Clean Water Services, 16060 SW 85th Avenue, Tigard, OR 97224, United States
| | - Ameet Pinto
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, United States; Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30318, United States
| | - April Z Gu
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, United States; Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14853, United States.
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24
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McDaniel EA, Wahl SA, Ishii S, Pinto A, Ziels R, Nielsen PH, McMahon KD, Williams RBH. Prospects for multi-omics in the microbial ecology of water engineering. WATER RESEARCH 2021; 205:117608. [PMID: 34555741 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2021] [Revised: 08/20/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies and bioinformatics approaches over almost the last three decades have substantially increased our ability to explore microorganisms and their functions - including those that have yet to be cultivated in pure isolation. Genome-resolved metagenomic approaches have enabled linking powerful functional predictions to specific taxonomical groups with increasing fidelity. Additionally, related developments in both whole community gene expression surveys and metabolite profiling have permitted for direct surveys of community-scale functions in specific environmental settings. These advances have allowed for a shift in microbiome science away from descriptive studies and towards mechanistic and predictive frameworks for designing and harnessing microbial communities for desired beneficial outcomes. Water engineers, microbiologists, and microbial ecologists studying activated sludge, anaerobic digestion, and drinking water distribution systems have applied various (meta)omics techniques for connecting microbial community dynamics and physiologies to overall process parameters and system performance. However, the rapid pace at which new omics-based approaches are developed can appear daunting to those looking to apply these state-of-the-art practices for the first time. Here, we review how modern genome-resolved metagenomic approaches have been applied to a variety of water engineering applications from lab-scale bioreactors to full-scale systems. We describe integrated omics analysis across engineered water systems and the foundations for pairing these insights with modeling approaches. Lastly, we summarize emerging omics-based technologies that we believe will be powerful tools for water engineering applications. Overall, we provide a framework for microbial ecologists specializing in water engineering to apply cutting-edge omics approaches to their research questions to achieve novel functional insights. Successful adoption of predictive frameworks in engineered water systems could enable more economically and environmentally sustainable bioprocesses as demand for water and energy resources increases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A McDaniel
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
| | | | - Shun'ichi Ishii
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan
| | - Ameet Pinto
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ryan Ziels
- Department of Civil Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | | | - Katherine D McMahon
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Rohan B H Williams
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
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25
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Xie S, Zhao J, Zhang Q, Zhao J, Lei S, Ma X, Yan C. Improvement of the performance of simultaneous nitrification denitrification and phosphorus removal (SNDPR) system by nitrite stress. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 788:147825. [PMID: 34034172 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2021] [Revised: 05/09/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
This study investigated a new way to improve the performance of simultaneous nitrification denitrification and phosphorus removal (SNDPR) system by regularly changing the anaerobic/micro-aerobic/anoxic mode to the anaerobic/anoxic mode with 30 mg/L of nitrite dosing. The results indicated that the removal efficiency of total inorganic nitrogen and PO43--P was improved from 75.44% and 85.14% to 98.89% and 98.17%, respectively. And the good performance of the SNDPR showed a long-time sustainability when the C/N ratio was 5. The results of microbial community illustrated that the abundance of the main nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), Nitrospira sp., dropped from 5.71% to 0.85% and the abundance of denitrifying polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (DPAOs), Pseudomonas sp. and Acinetobacter sp., increased by 5 times after nitrite stress. The high level of nitric oxide (NO) and free nitrite acid produced by addition of nitrite strongly suppressed the undesired organisms NOB and ordinary heterotrophic denitrifying organisms, and promoted the enrichment of DPAOs. The NO accumulated in the nitrite denitrification process could inhibit NOB and promote AOB. This study revealed that NO plays an important role in regulating the microbial community in the SNDPR system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuting Xie
- School of Water and Environment, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China; Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effect in Arid Region of Ministry of Education, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China
| | - Jianqiang Zhao
- School of Water and Environment, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China; Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effect in Arid Region of Ministry of Education, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Qianqian Zhang
- School of Water and Environment, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China; Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effect in Arid Region of Ministry of Education, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Junkai Zhao
- School of Water and Environment, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China; Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effect in Arid Region of Ministry of Education, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China
| | - Shuhan Lei
- School of Water and Environment, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China; Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effect in Arid Region of Ministry of Education, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China
| | - Xiaoqing Ma
- School of Water and Environment, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China; Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effect in Arid Region of Ministry of Education, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China
| | - Chunxiao Yan
- School of Water and Environment, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China; Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effect in Arid Region of Ministry of Education, Xi'an 710064, Shaanxi, China
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26
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Metabolic Differentiation of Co-occurring Accumulibacter Clades Revealed through Genome-Resolved Metatranscriptomics. mSystems 2021; 6:e0047421. [PMID: 34227830 PMCID: PMC8407102 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00474-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Natural microbial communities consist of closely related taxa that may exhibit phenotypic differences and inhabit distinct niches. However, connecting genetic diversity to ecological properties remains a challenge in microbial ecology due to the lack of pure cultures across the microbial tree of life. "Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis" (Accumulibacter) is a polyphosphate-accumulating organism that contributes to the enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) biotechnological process for removing excess phosphorus from wastewater and preventing eutrophication from downstream receiving waters. Distinct Accumulibacter clades often coexist in full-scale wastewater treatment plants and laboratory-scale enrichment bioreactors and have been hypothesized to inhabit distinct ecological niches. However, since individual strains of the Accumulibacter lineage have not been isolated in pure culture to date, these predictions have been made solely on genome-based comparisons and enrichments with varying strain compositions. Here, we used genome-resolved metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to explore the activity of coexisting Accumulibacter strains in an engineered bioreactor environment. We obtained four high-quality genomes of Accumulibacter strains that were present in the bioreactor ecosystem, one of which is a completely contiguous draft genome scaffolded with long Nanopore reads. We identified core and accessory genes to investigate how gene expression patterns differed among the dominating strains. Using this approach, we were able to identify putative pathways and functions that may confer distinct functions to Accumulibacter strains and provide key functional insights into this biotechnologically significant microbial lineage. IMPORTANCE "Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis" is a model polyphosphate-accumulating organism that has been studied using genome-resolved metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metaproteomics to understand the EBPR process. Within the Accumulibacter lineage, several similar but diverging clades are defined by the shared sequence identity of the polyphosphate kinase (ppk1) locus. These clades are predicted to have key functional differences in acetate uptake rates, phage defense mechanisms, and nitrogen-cycling capabilities. However, such hypotheses have largely been made based on gene content comparisons of sequenced Accumulibacter genomes, some of which were obtained from different systems. Here, we performed time series genome-resolved metatranscriptomics to explore gene expression patterns of coexisting Accumulibacter clades in the same bioreactor ecosystem. Our work provides an approach for elucidating ecologically relevant functions based on gene expression patterns between closely related microbial populations.
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27
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Wang Y, Gao H, F Wells G. Integrated omics analyses reveal differential gene expression and potential for cooperation between denitrifying polyphosphate and glycogen accumulating organisms. Environ Microbiol 2021; 23:3274-3293. [PMID: 33769674 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.15486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2019] [Revised: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 03/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Unusually high accumulation of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2 O) has previously been documented in denitrifying biological phosphorus (P) removal bioprocesses, but the roles of differential denitrification gene expression patterns and ecological interactions between key functional groups in driving these emissions are not well understood. To address these knowledge gaps, we applied genome-resolved metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to a denitrifying bioprocess enriched in as-yet-uncultivated denitrifying polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) affiliated with Candidatus Accumulibacter. The six transcriptionally most active populations in the community included three co-occurring Accumulibacter strains affiliated with clades IF (a novel clade identified in this study), IA and IC, a competing glycogen accumulating organism (GAO) affiliated with Competibacteraceae (GAO1), a Gammaproteobacteria PR6 and an Anaerolineae CH7. Strongly elevated expression of nitrite reductase genes compared to nitrous oxide reductase genes was observed in the overall community and in Accumulibacter populations, suggesting a strong role for differential gene expression in driving N2 O accumulation. Surprisingly, while ~90% of the nirS gene transcripts were expressed by the three co-occurring PAO populations, ~93% of the norB gene transcripts were expressed by GAO1 and ~75% of the norZ gene transcripts were mapped to PR6 and several other non-PAO flanking populations. This suggests the potential for cooperation between flanking populations and PAOs in reducing denitrification intermediates. Such cooperation may benefit the community by reducing the accumulation of toxic nitric oxide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yubo Wang
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Han Gao
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - George F Wells
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
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28
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Saw NMMT, Suwanchaikasem P, Zuniga-Montanez R, Qiu G, Marzinelli EM, Wuertz S, Williams RBH. Influence of Extraction Solvent on Nontargeted Metabolomics Analysis of Enrichment Reactor Cultures Performing Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR). Metabolites 2021; 11:269. [PMID: 33925970 PMCID: PMC8145293 DOI: 10.3390/metabo11050269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2021] [Revised: 04/15/2021] [Accepted: 04/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Metabolome profiling is becoming more commonly used in the study of complex microbial communities and microbiomes; however, to date, little information is available concerning appropriate extraction procedures. We studied the influence of different extraction solvent mixtures on untargeted metabolomics analysis of two continuous culture enrichment communities performing enhanced biological phosphate removal (EBPR), with each enrichment targeting distinct populations of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs). We employed one non-polar solvent and up to four polar solvents for extracting metabolites from biomass. In one of the reactor microbial communities, we surveyed both intracellular and extracellular metabolites using the same set of solvents. All samples were analysed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). UPLC-MS data obtained from polar and non-polar solvents were analysed separately and evaluated using extent of repeatability, overall extraction capacity and the extent of differential abundance between physiological states. Despite both reactors demonstrating the same bioprocess phenotype, the most appropriate extraction method was biomass specific, with methanol: water (50:50 v/v) and methanol: chloroform: water (40:40:20 v/v) being chosen as the most appropriate for each of the two different bioreactors, respectively. Our approach provides new data on the influence of solvent choice on the untargeted surveys of the metabolome of PAO enriched EBPR communities and suggests that metabolome extraction methods need to be carefully tailored to the specific complex microbial community under study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nay Min Min Thaw Saw
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; (N.M.M.T.S.); (R.Z.-M.); (G.Q.); (E.M.M.); (S.W.)
| | - Pipob Suwanchaikasem
- Singapore Phenome Centre, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 636921, Singapore;
| | - Rogelio Zuniga-Montanez
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; (N.M.M.T.S.); (R.Z.-M.); (G.Q.); (E.M.M.); (S.W.)
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, One Shields Avenue, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Guanglei Qiu
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; (N.M.M.T.S.); (R.Z.-M.); (G.Q.); (E.M.M.); (S.W.)
| | - Ezequiel M. Marzinelli
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; (N.M.M.T.S.); (R.Z.-M.); (G.Q.); (E.M.M.); (S.W.)
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Stefan Wuertz
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; (N.M.M.T.S.); (R.Z.-M.); (G.Q.); (E.M.M.); (S.W.)
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
| | - Rohan B. H. Williams
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117456, Singapore
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Arumugam K, Bessarab I, Haryono MAS, Liu X, Zuniga-Montanez RE, Roy S, Qiu G, Drautz-Moses DI, Law YY, Wuertz S, Lauro FM, Huson DH, Williams RBH. Recovery of complete genomes and non-chromosomal replicons from activated sludge enrichment microbial communities with long read metagenome sequencing. NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes 2021; 7:23. [PMID: 33727564 PMCID: PMC7966762 DOI: 10.1038/s41522-021-00196-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Accepted: 02/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
New long read sequencing technologies offer huge potential for effective recovery of complete, closed genomes from complex microbial communities. Using long read data (ONT MinION) obtained from an ensemble of activated sludge enrichment bioreactors we recover 22 closed or complete genomes of community members, including several species known to play key functional roles in wastewater bioprocesses, specifically microbes known to exhibit the polyphosphate- and glycogen-accumulating organism phenotypes (namely Candidatus Accumulibacter and Dechloromonas, and Micropruina, Defluviicoccus and Candidatus Contendobacter, respectively), and filamentous bacteria (Thiothrix) associated with the formation and stability of activated sludge flocs. Additionally we demonstrate the recovery of close to 100 circularised plasmids, phages and small microbial genomes from these microbial communities using long read assembled sequence. We describe methods for validating long read assembled genomes using their counterpart short read metagenome-assembled genomes, and assess the influence of different correction procedures on genome quality and predicted gene quality. Our findings establish the feasibility of performing long read metagenome-assembled genome recovery for both chromosomal and non-chromosomal replicons, and demonstrate the value of parallel sampling of moderately complex enrichment communities to obtaining high quality reference genomes of key functional species relevant for wastewater bioprocesses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krithika Arumugam
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Irina Bessarab
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Mindia A S Haryono
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Xianghui Liu
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Rogelio E Zuniga-Montanez
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, One Shields Avenue, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Samarpita Roy
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Guanglei Qiu
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
| | - Daniela I Drautz-Moses
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ying Yu Law
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Stefan Wuertz
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Federico M Lauro
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
- Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Daniel H Huson
- Institute for Bioinformatics and Medical Informatics, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Life Sciences Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Rohan B H Williams
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
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Pelevina AV, Berestovskaya YY, Grachev VA, Dorofeeva IK, Sorokin VV, Dorofeev AG, Kallistova AY, Nikolaev YA, Kotlyarov RY, Beletskii AV, Ravin NV, Pimenov NV, Mardanov AV. A Microbial Consortium Removing Phosphates under Conditions of Cyclic Aerobic-Anaerobic Cultivation. Microbiology (Reading) 2021. [DOI: 10.1134/s0026261721010082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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31
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Saia SM, Carrick HJ, Buda AR, Regan JM, Walter MT. Critical Review of Polyphosphate and Polyphosphate Accumulating Organisms for Agricultural Water Quality Management. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2021; 55:2722-2742. [PMID: 33559467 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c03566] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Despite ongoing management efforts, phosphorus (P) loading from agricultural landscapes continues to impair water quality. Wastewater treatment research has enhanced our knowledge of microbial mechanisms influencing P cycling, especially regarding microbes known as polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) that store P as polyphosphate (polyP) under oxic conditions and release P under anoxic conditions. However, there is limited application of PAO research to reduce agricultural P loading and improve water quality. Herein, we conducted a meta-analysis to identify articles in Web of Science on polyP and its use by PAOs across five disciplines (i.e., wastewater treatment, terrestrial, freshwater, marine, and agriculture). We also summarized research that provides preliminary support for PAO-mediated P cycling in natural habitats. Terrestrial, freshwater, marine, and agriculture disciplines had fewer polyP and PAO articles compared to wastewater treatment, with agriculture consistently having the least. Most meta-analysis articles did not overlap disciplines. We found preliminary support for PAOs in natural habitats and identified several knowledge gaps and research opportunities. There is an urgent need for interdisciplinary research linking PAOs, polyP, and oxygen availability with existing knowledge of P forms and cycling mechanisms in natural and agricultural environments to improve agricultural P management strategies and achieve water quality goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheila M Saia
- Depatment of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, United States
| | - Hunter J Carrick
- Department of Biology and Institute for Great Lakes Research, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, United States
| | - Anthony R Buda
- Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States
| | - John M Regan
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States
| | - M Todd Walter
- Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
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32
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Roy S, Guanglei Q, Zuniga-Montanez R, Williams RB, Wuertz S. Recent advances in understanding the ecophysiology of enhanced biological phosphorus removal. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2021; 67:166-174. [PMID: 33582603 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2021.01.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Revised: 01/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) is an efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable method for removing excess phosphorus from wastewater. Polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) exhibit a unique physiology alternating between anaerobic conditions for uptake of carbon substrates and aerobic or anoxic conditions for phosphorus uptake. The implementation of high-throughput sequencing technologies and advanced molecular tools along with biochemical characterization has provided many new perspectives on the EBPR process. These approaches have helped identify a wide range of carbon substrates and electron acceptors utilized by PAOs that in turn influence interactions with microbial community members and determine overall phosphorus removal efficiency. In this review, we systematically discuss the microbial diversity and metabolic response to a range of environmental conditions and process control strategies in EBPR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samarpita Roy
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077, Singapore
| | - Qiu Guanglei
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Rogelio Zuniga-Montanez
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, United States
| | - Rohan Bh Williams
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077, Singapore
| | - Stefan Wuertz
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, United States; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
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33
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Understanding microbial shift of Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal process (EBPR) under different Dissolved Oxygen (DO) concentrations and Hydraulic Retention Time (HRTs). Biochem Eng J 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bej.2020.107833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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34
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Roy S, Nirakar P, Yong NGH, Stefan W. Denitrification kinetics indicates nitrous oxide uptake is unaffected by electron competition in Accumulibacter. WATER RESEARCH 2021; 189:116557. [PMID: 33220610 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.116557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2020] [Revised: 10/04/2020] [Accepted: 10/22/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Denitrifying phosphorus removal is a cost and energy efficient treatment technology that relies on polyphosphate accumulating organisms (DPAOs) utilizing nitrate or nitrite as terminal electron acceptor. Denitrification is a multistep process, but many organisms do not possess the complete pathway, leading to the accumulation of intermediates such as nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas and ozone depleting substance. Candidatus Accumulibacter organisms are prevalent in denitrifying phosphorus removal processes and, according to genomic analyses, appear to vary in their denitrification abilities based on their lineage. Denitrification kinetics and nitrous oxide accumulation in the absence of inhibition from free nitrous acid is a strong indicator of denitrification capabilities of Accumulibacter exposed long-term to nitrate or nitrite as electron acceptor. Thus, we investigated the preferential use of the nitrogen oxides involved in denitrification and nitrous oxide accumulation in two enrichments of Accumulibacter and a competitor - the glycogen accumulating organism Candidatus Competibacter. We modified a metabolic model to predict phosphorus removal and denitrification rates when nitrate, nitrite or N2O were added as electron acceptors in different combinations. Unlike previous studies, no N2O accumulation was observed for Accumulibacter in the presence of multiple electron acceptors. Electron competition did not limit denitrification kinetics or lead to N2O accumulation in Accumulibacter or Competibacter. Despite the presence of sufficient internal storage polymers (polyhydroxyalkanoates, or PHA) as energy source for each denitrification step, the extent of denitrification observed was dependent on the dominant organism in the enrichment. Accumulibacter showed complete denitrification, whereas Competibacter denitrification was limited to reduction of nitrate to nitrite. These findings indicate that DPAOs can contribute to lowering N2O emissions in the presence of multiple electron acceptors under partial nitritation conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samarpita Roy
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077, Singapore.
| | - Pradhan Nirakar
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore.
| | - N G How Yong
- NUS Environmental Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 5A Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117411, Singapore.
| | - Wuertz Stefan
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
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35
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Revealing the Metabolic Flexibility of " Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis" through Redox Cofactor Analysis and Metabolic Network Modeling. Appl Environ Microbiol 2020; 86:AEM.00808-20. [PMID: 33008826 DOI: 10.1128/aem.00808-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2020] [Accepted: 09/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental fluctuations in the availability of nutrients lead to intricate metabolic strategies. "Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis," a polyphosphate-accumulating organism (PAO) responsible for enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) from wastewater treatment systems, is prevalent in aerobic/anaerobic environments. While the overall metabolic traits of these bacteria are well described, the nonavailability of isolates has led to controversial conclusions on the metabolic pathways used. In this study, we experimentally determined the redox cofactor preferences of different oxidoreductases in the central carbon metabolism of a highly enriched "Ca Accumulibacter phosphatis" culture. Remarkably, we observed that the acetoacetyl coenzyme A reductase engaged in polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthesis is NADH preferring instead of showing the generally assumed NADPH dependency. This allows rethinking of the ecological role of PHA accumulation as a fermentation product under anaerobic conditions and not just a stress response. Based on previously published metaomics data and the results of enzymatic assays, a reduced central carbon metabolic network was constructed and used for simulating different metabolic operating modes. In particular, scenarios with different acetate-to-glycogen consumption ratios were simulated, which demonstrated optima using different combinations of glycolysis, glyoxylate shunt, or branches of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Thus, optimal metabolic flux strategies will depend on the environment (acetate uptake) and on intracellular storage compound availability (polyphosphate/glycogen). This NADH-related metabolic flexibility is enabled by the NADH-driven PHA synthesis. It allows for maintaining metabolic activity under various environmental substrate conditions, with high carbon conservation and lower energetic costs than for NADPH-dependent PHA synthesis. Such (flexible) metabolic redox coupling can explain the competitiveness of PAOs under oxygen-fluctuating environments.IMPORTANCE Here, we demonstrate how microbial storage metabolism can adjust to a wide range of environmental conditions. Such flexibility generates a selective advantage under fluctuating environmental conditions. It can also explain the different observations reported in PAO literature, including the capacity of "Ca Accumulibacter phosphatis" to act like glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAOs). These observations stem from slightly different experimental conditions, and controversy arises only when one assumes that metabolism can operate only in a single mode. Furthermore, we also show how the study of metabolic strategies is possible when combining omics data with functional cofactor assays and modeling. Genomic information can only provide the potential of a microorganism. The environmental context and other complementary approaches are still needed to study and predict the functional expression of such metabolic potential.
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36
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Insights into the effects of acetate on the community structure of Candidatus Accumulibacter in biological phosphorus removal system using DNA stable-isotope probing (DNA-SIP). Enzyme Microb Technol 2020; 139:109567. [DOI: 10.1016/j.enzmictec.2020.109567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2019] [Revised: 04/01/2020] [Accepted: 04/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Santos JMM, Rieger L, Lanham AB, Carvalheira M, Reis MAM, Oehmen A. A novel metabolic-ASM model for full-scale biological nutrient removal systems. WATER RESEARCH 2020; 171:115373. [PMID: 31846822 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.115373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2019] [Revised: 11/23/2019] [Accepted: 12/05/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
This study demonstrates that META-ASM, a new integrated metabolic activated sludge model, provides an overall platform to describe the activity of the key organisms and processes relevant to biological nutrient removal (BNR) systems with a robust single-set of default parameters. This model overcomes various shortcomings of existing enhanced biological phosphorous removal (EBPR) models studied over the last twenty years. The model has been tested against 34 data sets from enriched lab polyphosphate accumulating organism (PAO)-glycogen accumulating organism (GAO) cultures and experiments with full-scale sludge from five water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) with two different process configurations: three stage Phoredox (A2/O) and adapted Biodenitro™ combined with a return sludge sidestream hydrolysis tank (RSS). Special attention is given to the operational conditions affecting the competition between PAOs and GAOs, capability of PAOs and GAOs to denitrify, metabolic shifts as a function of storage polymer concentrations, as well as the role of these polymers in endogenous processes and fermentation. The overall good correlations obtained between the predicted versus measured EBPR profiles from different data sets support that this new model, which is based on in-depth understanding of EBPR, reduces calibration efforts. On the other hand, the performance comparison between META-ASM and literature models demonstrates that existing literature models require extensive parameter changes and have limited predictive power, especially in the prediction of long-term EBPR performance. The development of such a model able to describe in detail the microbial and chemical transformations of BNR systems with minimal adjustment to parameters suggests that the META-ASM model is a powerful tool to predict and mitigate EBPR upsets, optimise EBPR performance and to evaluate new process designs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge M M Santos
- UCIBIO-REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Sciences and Tecnology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal.
| | | | - Ana B Lanham
- UCIBIO-REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Sciences and Tecnology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal
| | - Mónica Carvalheira
- UCIBIO-REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Sciences and Tecnology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal
| | - Maria A M Reis
- UCIBIO-REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Sciences and Tecnology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal
| | - Adrian Oehmen
- UCIBIO-REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Sciences and Tecnology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal
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38
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Dorofeev AG, Nikolaev YA, Mardanov AV, Pimenov NV. Role of Phosphate-Accumulating Bacteria in Biological Phosphorus Removal from Wastewater. APPL BIOCHEM MICRO+ 2020. [DOI: 10.1134/s0003683820010056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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39
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Qiu G, Liu X, Saw NMMT, Law Y, Zuniga-Montanez R, Thi SS, Ngoc Nguyen TQ, Nielsen PH, Williams RBH, Wuertz S. Metabolic Traits of Candidatus Accumulibacter clade IIF Strain SCELSE-1 Using Amino Acids As Carbon Sources for Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2020; 54:2448-2458. [PMID: 31790213 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b02901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Despite recent evidence from full-scale plants suggesting that Candidatus Accumulibacter may be capable of using amino acids, this metabolic trait has never been confirmed in a bioreactor experiment. Here we show that an enriched culture of Ca. Accumulibacter clade IIF strain SCELSE-1 could metabolize 11 of 20 α-amino acids, with aspartate, glutamate, asparagine, and glutamine resulting in the highest phosphorus removal. The anaerobic uptake of aspartate and glutamate was achieved through a glutamate/aspartate-proton symporter fully powered by the proton motive force (PMF). Under anaerobic conditions aspartate was deaminized and routed into core carbon metabolic pathways to form polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). The lack of genes encoding NADH dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase in the Ca. Accumulibacter genome resulted in a kinetic barrier for glutamate to be channelled to the TCA cycle. Glutamate was stored as glutamate polymer. When amino acids (aspartate or glutamate) and acetate were supplied together, Ca. Accumulibacter took up both carbon sources simultaneously, with the uptake rate of each carbon source largely preserved. Overall energy savings (up to 17%) were achieved under mixed carbon scenarios, due to the ability of Ca. Accumulibacter to rearrange its anaerobic carbon metabolism based on the reducing power, PMF and ATP balance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guanglei Qiu
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637551 , Singapore
- School of Environment and Energy , South China University of Technology , Guangzhou 510006 , China
| | - Xianghui Liu
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637551 , Singapore
| | - Nay Min Min Thaw Saw
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637551 , Singapore
| | - Yingyu Law
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637551 , Singapore
| | - Rogelio Zuniga-Montanez
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637551 , Singapore
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, One Shields Avenue , University of California , Davis , California 95616 , United States
| | - Sara Swa Thi
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637551 , Singapore
| | - Thi Quynh Ngoc Nguyen
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637551 , Singapore
| | - Per H Nielsen
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637551 , Singapore
- Centre for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience , Aalborg University , DK-9220 , Aalborg , Denmark
| | - Rohan B H Williams
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering , National University of Singapore , Singapore 119077 , Singapore
| | - Stefan Wuertz
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637551 , Singapore
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, One Shields Avenue , University of California , Davis , California 95616 , United States
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 639798 , Singapore
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40
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Profiling population-level diversity and dynamics of Accumulibacter via high throughput sequencing of ppk1. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2019; 103:9711-9722. [DOI: 10.1007/s00253-019-10183-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2019] [Revised: 09/09/2019] [Accepted: 10/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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41
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Rubio-Rincón FJ, Weissbrodt DG, Lopez-Vazquez CM, Welles L, Abbas B, Albertsen M, Nielsen PH, van Loosdrecht MCM, Brdjanovic D. "Candidatus Accumulibacter delftensis": A clade IC novel polyphosphate-accumulating organism without denitrifying activity on nitrate. WATER RESEARCH 2019; 161:136-151. [PMID: 31189123 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.03.053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2018] [Revised: 03/18/2019] [Accepted: 03/26/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Populations of "Candidatus Accumulibacter", a known polyphosphate-accumulating organism, within clade IC have been proposed to perform anoxic P-uptake activity in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems using nitrate as electron acceptor. However, no consensus has been reached on the ability of "Ca. Accumulibacter" members of clade IC to reduce nitrate to nitrite. Discrepancies might relate to the diverse operational conditions which could trigger the expression of the Nap and/or Nar enzyme and/or to the accuracy in clade classification. This study aimed to assess whether and how certain operational conditions could lead to the enrichment and enhance the denitrification capacity of "Ca. Accumulibacter" within clade IC. To study the potential induction of the denitrifying enzyme, an EBPR culture was enriched under anaerobic-anoxic-oxic (A2O) conditions that, based on fluorescence in situ hybridization and ppk gene sequencing, was composed of around 97% (on a biovolume basis) of affiliates of "Ca. Accumulibacter" clade IC. The influence of the medium composition, sludge retention time (SRT), polyphosphate content of the biomass (poly-P), nitrate dosing approach, and minimal aerobic SRT on potential nitrate reduction were studied. Despite the different studied conditions applied, only a negligible anoxic P-uptake rate was observed, equivalent to maximum 13% of the aerobic P-uptake rate. An increase in the anoxic SRT at the expenses of the aerobic SRT resulted in deterioration of P-removal with limited aerobic P-uptake and insufficient acetate uptake in the anaerobic phase. A near-complete genome (completeness = 100%, contamination = 0.187%) was extracted from the metagenome of the EBPR biomass for the here-proposed "Ca. Accumulibacter delftensis" clade IC. According to full-genome-based phylogenetic analysis, this lineage was distant from the canonical "Ca. Accumulibacter phosphatis", with closest neighbor "Ca. Accumulibacter sp. UW-LDO-IC" within clade IC. This was cross-validated with taxonomic classification of the ppk1 gene sequences. The genome-centric metagenomic analysis highlighted the presence of genes for assimilatory nitrate reductase (nas) and periplasmic nitrate reductase (nap) but no gene for respiratory nitrate reductases (nar). This suggests that "Ca. Accumulibacter delftensis" clade IC was not capable to generate the required energy (ATP) from nitrate under strict anaerobic-anoxic conditions to support an anoxic EBPR metabolism. Definitely, this study stresses the incongruence in denitrification abilities of "Ca. Accumulibacter" clades and reflects the true intra-clade diversity, which requires a thorough investigation within this lineage.
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Affiliation(s)
- F J Rubio-Rincón
- Sanitary Engineering Chair Group. Department of Environmental Engineering and Water Technology, IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611AX, Delft, the Netherlands; Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ, Delft, the Netherlands.
| | - D G Weissbrodt
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ, Delft, the Netherlands; Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7H, 9220, Aalborg, Denmark.
| | - C M Lopez-Vazquez
- Sanitary Engineering Chair Group. Department of Environmental Engineering and Water Technology, IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611AX, Delft, the Netherlands.
| | - L Welles
- Sanitary Engineering Chair Group. Department of Environmental Engineering and Water Technology, IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611AX, Delft, the Netherlands.
| | - B Abbas
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ, Delft, the Netherlands.
| | - M Albertsen
- Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7H, 9220, Aalborg, Denmark.
| | - P H Nielsen
- Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7H, 9220, Aalborg, Denmark.
| | - M C M van Loosdrecht
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ, Delft, the Netherlands.
| | - D Brdjanovic
- Sanitary Engineering Chair Group. Department of Environmental Engineering and Water Technology, IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611AX, Delft, the Netherlands; Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ, Delft, the Netherlands.
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42
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Dorofeev AG, Nikolaev YA, Mardanov AV, Pimenov NV. Cyclic Metabolism as a Mode of Microbial Existence. Microbiology (Reading) 2019. [DOI: 10.1134/s0026261719040052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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43
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Zhang AN, Mao Y, Wang Y, Zhang T. Mining traits for the enrichment and isolation of not-yet-cultured populations. MICROBIOME 2019; 7:96. [PMID: 31238973 PMCID: PMC6593511 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-019-0708-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2018] [Accepted: 06/05/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The lack of pure cultures limits our understanding into 99% of bacteria. Proper interpretation of the genetic and the transcriptional datasets can reveal clues for the enrichment and even isolation of the not-yet-cultured populations. Unraveling such information requires a proper mining method. RESULTS Here, we present a method to infer the hidden traits for the enrichment of not-yet-cultured populations. We demonstrate this method using Candidatus Accumulibacter. Our method constructs a whole picture of the carbon, electron, and energy flows in the not-yet-cultured populations from the genomic datasets. Then, it decodes the coordination across three flows from the transcriptional datasets. Based on it, our method diagnoses the status of the not-yet-cultured populations and provides strategy to optimize the enrichment systems. CONCLUSION Our method could shed light to the exploration into the bacterial dark matter in the environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- An-Ni Zhang
- Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Yanping Mao
- Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yubo Wang
- Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Tong Zhang
- Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
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Gao H, Mao Y, Zhao X, Liu WT, Zhang T, Wells G. Genome-centric metagenomics resolves microbial diversity and prevalent truncated denitrification pathways in a denitrifying PAO-enriched bioprocess. WATER RESEARCH 2019; 155:275-287. [PMID: 30852315 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.02.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2018] [Revised: 02/05/2019] [Accepted: 02/06/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Denitrification is the stepwise microbial reduction of nitrate or nitrite (NO2-) to nitrogen gas via the obligate intermediates nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Substantial N2O accumulation has been reported in denitrifying enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) bioreactors enriched in denitrifying polyphosphate accumulating organisms (DPAOs), but little is known about underlying mechanisms for N2O generation, prevalence of complete versus truncated denitrification pathways, or the impact of NO2- feed on DPAO-enriched consortia. To address this knowledge gap, we employed genome-resolved metagenomics to investigate nitrogen transformation potential in a NO2- fed denitrifying EBPR bioreactor enriched in Candidatus Accumulibacter and prone to N2O accumulation. Our analysis yielded 41 near-complete metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), including two co-occurring Accumulibacter strains affiliated with clades IA and IC (the first published genome from this clade) and 39 non-PAO flanking bacterial genomes. The dominant Accumulibacter clade IA encoded genes for complete denitrification, while the lower abundance Accumulibacter clade IC harbored all denitrification genes except for a canonical respiratory NO reductase. Analysis of the 39 non-PAO MAGs revealed a high prevalence of taxa harboring an incomplete denitrification pathway. Of the 27 MAGs harboring capacity for at least one step in the denitrification pathway, 10 were putative N2O producers lacking N2O reductase, 16 were putative N2O reducers that lacked at least one upstream denitrification gene, and only one harbored a complete denitrification pathway. We also documented increasing abundance over the course of reactor operation of putative N2O producers. Our results suggest that the unusually high levels of N2O production observed in this Accumulibacter-enriched consortium are linked in part to the selection for non-PAO flanking microorganisms with truncated denitrification pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Gao
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
| | - Yanping Mao
- College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, PR China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecological Remediation, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, PR China; Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
| | - Xiaotian Zhao
- Master of Science in Biotechnology Program, McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
| | - Wen-Tso Liu
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, 61801, United States
| | - Tong Zhang
- Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
| | - George Wells
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States.
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Population Structure and Morphotype Analysis of " Candidatus Accumulibacter" Using Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization-Staining-Flow Cytometry. Appl Environ Microbiol 2019; 85:AEM.02943-18. [PMID: 30824450 DOI: 10.1128/aem.02943-18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2018] [Accepted: 02/20/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
"Candidatus Accumulibacter" is the dominant polyphosphate-accumulating organism (PAO) in denitrifying phosphorus removal (DPR) systems. In order to investigate the community structure and clade morphotypes of "Candidatus Accumulibacter" in DPR systems through flow cytometry (FCM), denitrifying phosphorus removal of almost 100% using nitrite and nitrate as the electron acceptor was achieved in sequencing batch reactors (SBRs). An optimal method of flow cytometry combined with fluorescence in situ hybridization and SYBR green I staining (FISH-staining-flow cytometry) was developed to quantify PAOs in DPR systems. By setting the width value of FCM, bacterial cells in a sludge sample were divided into three groups in different morphotypes, namely, coccus, coccobacillus, and bacillus. Average percentages that the three different PAO populations accounted for among total bacteria from SBR1 (SBR2) were 42% (45%), 14% (13%), and 4% (2%). FCM showed that the ratios of PAOs to total bacteria in the two reactors were 61% and 59%, and the quantitative PCR (qPCR) results indicated that IIC was the dominant "Candidatus Accumulibacter" clade in both denitrifying phosphorus removal systems, reaching 50% of the total "Candidatus Accumulibacter" bacteria. The subdominant clade in the reactor with nitrite as the electron acceptor was IID, accounting for 31% of the total "Candidatus Accumulibacter" bacteria. The FCM and qPCR results suggested that clades IIC and IID were both coccus, clade IIF was coccobacillus, and clade IA was bacillus. FISH analysis also indicated that PAOs were major cocci in the systems. An equivalence test of FCM-based quantification confirmed the accuracy of FISH-staining-flow cytometry, which can meet the quantitative requirements for PAOs in complex activated sludge samples.IMPORTANCE As one group of the most important functional phosphorus removal organisms, "Candidatus Accumulibacter," affiliated with the Rhodocyclus group of the Betaproteobacteria, is a widely recognized and studied PAO in the field of biological wastewater treatment. The morphotypes and population structure of clade-level "Candidatus Accumulibacter" were studied through novel FISH-staining-flow cytometry, which involved denitrifying phosphorus removal (DPR) achieving carbon and energy savings and simultaneous removal of N and P, thus inferring the different denitrifying phosphorus removal abilities of these clades. Additionally, based on this method, in situ quantification for specific polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) enables a more efficient process and more accurate result. The establishment of FISH-staining-flow cytometry makes cell sorting of clade-level noncultivated organisms available.
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Arumugam K, Bağcı C, Bessarab I, Beier S, Buchfink B, Górska A, Qiu G, Huson DH, Williams RBH. Annotated bacterial chromosomes from frame-shift-corrected long-read metagenomic data. MICROBIOME 2019; 7:61. [PMID: 30992083 PMCID: PMC6469205 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-019-0665-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2019] [Accepted: 03/11/2019] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Short-read sequencing technologies have long been the work-horse of microbiome analysis. Continuing technological advances are making the application of long-read sequencing to metagenomic samples increasingly feasible. RESULTS We demonstrate that whole bacterial chromosomes can be obtained from an enriched community, by application of MinION sequencing to a sample from an EBPR bioreactor, producing 6 Gb of sequence that assembles into multiple closed bacterial chromosomes. We provide a simple pipeline for processing such data, which includes a new approach to correcting erroneous frame-shifts. CONCLUSIONS Advances in long-read sequencing technology and corresponding algorithms will allow the routine extraction of whole chromosomes from environmental samples, providing a more detailed picture of individual members of a microbiome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krithika Arumugam
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, SBS-01N-27, Singapore, 637551 Singapore
| | - Caner Bağcı
- Department of Computer Science, University of Tübingen, Sand 14, Tübingen, 72076 Germany
- International Max Planck Research School From Molecules to Organisms, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology and Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Max-Planck-Ring 5, Tübingen, 72076 Germany
| | - Irina Bessarab
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, 28 Medical Drive, Singapore, 117456 Singapore
| | - Sina Beier
- Department of Computer Science, University of Tübingen, Sand 14, Tübingen, 72076 Germany
| | - Benjamin Buchfink
- Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology, Max-Planck-Ring 5, Tübingen, 72076 Germany
| | - Anna Górska
- Department of Computer Science, University of Tübingen, Sand 14, Tübingen, 72076 Germany
- International Max Planck Research School From Molecules to Organisms, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology and Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Max-Planck-Ring 5, Tübingen, 72076 Germany
| | - Guanglei Qiu
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, SBS-01N-27, Singapore, 637551 Singapore
| | - Daniel H. Huson
- Department of Computer Science, University of Tübingen, Sand 14, Tübingen, 72076 Germany
- Life Sciences Institute, National University of Singapore, 28 Medical Drive, Singapore, 117456 Singapore
| | - Rohan B. H. Williams
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, 28 Medical Drive, Singapore, 117456 Singapore
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Wang L, Xiao S, Chen X, Chen S, Wang S, Wang C, Tang Y, Dong F. ytiB and ythA Genes Reduce the Uranium Removal Capacity of Bacillus atrophaeus. Int J Mol Sci 2019; 20:ijms20071766. [PMID: 30974785 PMCID: PMC6480291 DOI: 10.3390/ijms20071766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2019] [Revised: 03/29/2019] [Accepted: 04/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Two Bacillus atrophaeus strains, the first being a highly stress-resistant ATCC 9372 strain and the Ua strain identified from a chromium mine by our lab, differ in their abilities to tolerate and remove Uranium (VI) from contaminated water. An increase in U(VI) concentration in growth media led to a decrease in the tolerance and bio-remedial capacity of both strains. However, under high concentrations of U(VI) in the growth media, the ATCC 9372 strain demonstrated a higher tolerance and a higher removal capacity than the Ua strain. Two approaches, transcriptome sequencing and transgenic technology, were used to elucidate the relationship between particular genes within these two strains and their U(VI) removal capacity. Sequencing confirmed the expression of two genes unique to the Ua strain, previously designated ytiB and ythA. They encode putative proteins that show the highest levels of identity to carbonic anhydrase and cytochrome bd terminal oxidase I, respectively. Using the pBE-S DNA vector, ytiB and ythA were transformed into the ATCC 9372 strain of Bacillus atrophaeus. Under a U(VI) concentration of 120 mg/L, the removal rates of the transgenic ATCC 9372-ytiB and ATCC 9372-ythA strains decreased by 7.55% and 7.43%, respectively, compared to the removal rate of the control strain transformed with empty plasmid. The results suggest that both ythA and ytiB genes have a negative influence on the uranium removing capacity of Bacillus atrophaeus. This finding will help to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of uranium removal by bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Wang
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China.
- College of Life Science and Technology, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu 610041, China.
| | - Shiqi Xiao
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China.
| | - Xiaoming Chen
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China.
| | - Shilin Chen
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California at Berkeley, CA 94703, USA.
| | - Shanqiang Wang
- State Key Laboratory of NBC Protection for Civilian of China, Beijing 102205, China.
| | - Chao Wang
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China.
| | - Yunlai Tang
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China.
| | - Faqin Dong
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China.
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48
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Re-evaluating the microbiology of the enhanced biological phosphorus removal process. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2019; 57:111-118. [PMID: 30959426 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2019.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2018] [Revised: 02/01/2019] [Accepted: 03/03/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
We have critically assessed some of the dogmas in the microbiology of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) and argue that the genus Tetrasphaera can be as important as Ca. Accumulibacter for phosphorus removal; and that proliferation of their competitors, the glycogen accumulating organisms, does not appear to be a practical problem for EBPR efficiency even under tropical conditions. An increasing number of EBPR-related genomes are changing our understanding of their physiology, for example, their potential to participate in denitrification. Rather than trying to identify organisms that adhere to strict phenotype metabolic models, we advocate for broader analyses of the whole microbial communities in EBPR plants by iterative studies with isolates, lab enrichments, and full-scale systems.
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Watson SJ, Needoba JA, Peterson TD. Widespread detection of Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis, a polyphosphate-accumulating organism, in sediments of the Columbia River estuary. Environ Microbiol 2019; 21:1369-1382. [PMID: 30815950 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.14576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2018] [Revised: 02/11/2019] [Accepted: 02/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) exploits the metabolism of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) to remove excess phosphorus (P) from wastewater treatment. Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis (Accumulibacter) is the most abundant and well-studied PAO in EBPR systems. In a previous study, we detected polyphosphates throughout peripheral bay sediments, and hypothesized that an estuary is an ideal setting to evaluate PAOs in a natural system, given that estuaries are characterized by dynamic dissolved oxygen fluctuations that potentially favour PAO metabolism. We detected nucleotide sequences attributable to Accumulibacter (16S rRNA, ppk1) in sediments within three peripheral bays of the Columbia River estuary at abundances rivalling those observed in conventional wastewater treatment plants (0.01%-2.6%). Most of the sequences attributable to Accumulibacter were Type I rather than Type II, despite the fact that the estuary does not have particularly high nutrient concentrations. The highest diversity of Accumulibacter was observed in oligohaline peripheral bays, while the greatest abundances were observed at the mouth of the estuary in mesohaline sediments in the spring and summer. In addition, an approximately 70% increase in polyphosphate concentrations observed at one of the sites between dawn and dusk suggests that PAOs may play an important role in P cycling in estuary sediments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheree J Watson
- Institute of Environmental Health, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Joseph A Needoba
- Institute of Environmental Health, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.,OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Tawnya D Peterson
- Institute of Environmental Health, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.,OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
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50
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Qiu G, Zuniga-Montanez R, Law Y, Thi SS, Nguyen TQN, Eganathan K, Liu X, Nielsen PH, Williams RBH, Wuertz S. Polyphosphate-accumulating organisms in full-scale tropical wastewater treatment plants use diverse carbon sources. WATER RESEARCH 2019; 149:496-510. [PMID: 30476778 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2018.11.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2018] [Revised: 10/17/2018] [Accepted: 11/06/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) is considered challenging in the tropics, based on a great number of laboratory-based studies showing that the polyphosphate-accumulating organism (PAO) Candidatus Accumulibacter does not compete well with glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs) at temperatures above 25 °C. Yet limited information is available on the PAO community and the metabolic capabilities in full-scale EBPR systems operating at high temperature. We studied the composition of the key functional PAO communities in three full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with high in-situ EBPR activity in Singapore, their EBPR-associated carbon usage characteristics, and the relationship between carbon usage and community composition. Each plant had a signature community composed of diverse putative PAOs with multiple operational taxonomic units (OTUs) affiliated to Ca. Accumulibacter, Tetrasphaera spp., Dechloromonas and Ca. Obscuribacter. Despite the differences in community composition, ex-situ anaerobic phosphorus (P)-release tests with 24 organic compounds from five categories (including four sugars, three alcohols, three volatile fatty acids (VFAs), eight amino acids and six other carboxylic acids) showed that a wide range of organic compounds could potentially contribute to EBPR. VFAs induced the highest P release (12.0-18.2 mg P/g MLSS for acetate with a P release-to-carbon uptake (P:C) ratio of 0.35-0.66 mol P/mol C, 9.4-18.5 mg P/g MLSS for propionate with a P:C ratio of 0.38-0.60, and 9.5-17.3 mg P/g MLSS for n-butyrate), followed by some carboxylic acids (10.1-18.1 mg P/g MLSS for pyruvate, 4.5-11.7 mg P/g MLSS for lactate and 3.7-12.4 mg P/g MLSS for fumarate) and amino acids (3.66-7.33 mg P/g MLSS for glutamate with a P:C ratio of 0.16-0.43 mol P/mol C, and 4.01-7.37 mg P/g MLSS for aspartate with a P:C ratio of 0.17-0.48 mol P/mol C). P-release profiles (induced by different carbon sources) correlated closely with PAO community composition. High micro-diversity was observed within the Ca. Accumulibacter lineage, which represented the most abundant PAOs. The total population of Ca. Accumulibacter taxa was highly correlated with P-release induced by VFAs, highlighting the latter's importance in tropical EBPR systems. There was a strong link between the relative abundance of individual Ca. Accumulibacter OTUs and the extent of P release induced by distinct carbon sources (e.g., OTU 81 and amino acids, and OTU 246 and ethanol), suggesting niche differentiation among Ca. Accumulibacter taxa. A diverse PAO community and the ability to use numerous organic compounds are considered key factors for stable EBPR in full-scale plants at elevated temperatures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guanglei Qiu
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637551, Singapore.
| | - Rogelio Zuniga-Montanez
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637551, Singapore; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, One Shields Avenue, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Yingyu Law
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637551, Singapore
| | - Sara Swa Thi
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637551, Singapore
| | - Thi Quynh Ngoc Nguyen
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637551, Singapore
| | - Kaliyamoorthy Eganathan
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119077, Singapore
| | - Xianghui Liu
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637551, Singapore
| | - Per H Nielsen
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637551, Singapore; Centre for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, DK-9220, Denmark
| | - Rohan B H Williams
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119077, Singapore
| | - Stefan Wuertz
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637551, Singapore; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, One Shields Avenue, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
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