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Bacterial communities involved in sulfur transformations in wastewater treatment plants

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

The main sulfate-reducing (SRB) and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) in six wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) located at southern Brazil were described based on high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rDNA. Specific taxa of SRB and SOB were correlated with some abiotic factors, such as the source of the wastewater, oxygen content, sample type, and physical chemical attributes of these WWTPs. When the 22 families of SRB and SOB were clustered together, the samples presented a striking distribution, demonstrating grouping patterns according to the sample type. For SOB, the most abundant families were Spirochaetaceae, Chromatiaceae, Helicobacteriaceae, Rhodospirillaceae, and Neisseriaceae, whereas, for SRB, were Syntrophaceae, Desulfobacteraceae, Nitrospiraceae, and Desulfovibriaceae. The structure and composition of the major families related to the sulfur cycle were also influenced by six chemical attributes (sulfur, potassium, zinc, manganese, phosphorus, and nitrogen). Sulfur was the chemical attribute that most influenced the variation of bacterial communities in the WWTPs (λ = 0.14, p = 0.008). The OTUs affiliated to Syntrophus showed the highest response to the increase of total sulfur. All these findings can contribute to improve the understanding in relation to the sulfur-oxidizing and sulfate-reducing communities in WWTPs aiming to reduce H2S emissions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank CAPES for awarding the research grant to D.D. Meyer and FAPESP for providing financial resources for the development of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Daniel Derrossi Meyer & Gertrudes Corção

  2. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ), Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Piracicaba, Brazil

    Pedro Avelino Maia de Andrade, Ademir Durrer & Fernando Dini Andreote

  3. Laboratório de Bioquímica e Microbiologia Aplicada, Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre, 91501-970, Brazil

    Adriano Brandelli

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  1. Daniel Derrossi Meyer
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Correspondence to Adriano Brandelli.

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Meyer, D.D., de Andrade, P.A.M., Durrer, A. et al. Bacterial communities involved in sulfur transformations in wastewater treatment plants. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 10125–10135 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7839-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7839-3

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