Metagenomic insights into the effect of sulfate on enhanced biological phosphorus removal.

Metagenomic insights into the effect of sulfate on enhanced biological phosphorus removal. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2021 Feb 08;: Authors: Matsuura N, Masakke Y, Karthikeyan S, Kanazawa S, Honda R, Yamamoto-Ikemoto R, Konstantinidis KT Abstract Excess phosphorus in water supplies causes eutrophication, which degrades water quality. Hence, the efficient removal of phosphorus from wastewater represents a highly desirable process. Here, we evaluated the effect of sulfate concentration on enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR), in which phosphorus is typically removed under anaerobic-oxic cycles, with sulfate reduction the predominant process in the anaerobic phase. Two sequencing batch EBPR reactors operated under high- (SBR-H) vs. low-sulfate (SBR-L) concentrations for 189 days and under three periods, i.e., start-up, sufficient acetate, and limited acetate. Under acetate-rich conditions, phosphorus removal efficiency was > 90% for both reactors; however, under acetate-limited conditions, only 34% and 91.3% of the phosphorus were removed for the SBR-L and the SBR-H, respectively. Metagenomic sequencing of the reactors showed that the relative abundance of the polyphosphate-accumulating and sulfur-reducing bacteria (SRB) was higher in the SBR-H, consistent with its higher phosphorus removal activity. Ten high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes, including one closely related to the genus Thiothrix disciformis (99.81% averag...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: research