Abundance and ecophysiology of Defluviicoccus spp., glycogen-accumulating organisms in full-scale wastewater treatment processes

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Title: Abundance and ecophysiology of Defluviicoccus spp., glycogen-accumulating organisms in full-scale wastewater treatment processes
Author(s): Burow, Luke C.; Kong, Yunhong; Nielsen, Jeppe L.; Blackall, Linda L.; Nielsen, Per H.
Abstract: The activity of glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAOs) in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) wastewater treatment plants has been proposed as one cause of deterioration of EBPR. Putative GAOs from the Alphaproteobacteria, Defluviicoccus spp. (including D, vanus), were studied in full-scale EBPR plants to determine their distribution, abundance and ecophysiology. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) demonstrated that Defluviicoccus spp. were generally low in abundance; however, in one plant surveyed, Cluster 2 Defluviicoccus constituted 9 percent of all Bacteria. FISH combined with microautoradiography revealed that both Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 Defluviicoccus were capable of taking up a narrow range of substrates including acetate, propionate, pyruvate and glucose under anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Formate, butyrate, ethanol and several other substrates were not taken up. Cluster 2 Defluviicoccus demonstrated a phenotype consistent with the current metabolic model for GAOs - anaerobic assimilation of acetate and reduction to polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) using the glycolytic pathway, and aerobic consumption of PHA. Polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs, 'Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis') and other putative GAOs ('Candidatus Competibacter phosphatis') co-existed in two plants with Cluster 2 Defluviicoccus, but in both plants, the latter organisms were more abundart. Thus Cluster 2 Defluviicoccus can be relatively abundant and could be carbon competitors of PAOs and other GAOs in EBPR plants.
Publication type: Journal article
Source: Microbiology, Vol. 153, no. 1 (Jan 2007), pp. 178-185
Publication year: 2007
Keyword(s): Acetates; Alphaproteobacteria; Biodegradation; Butyric acid; Defluviicoccus; EBPR; Ecophysiology; Enhanced biological phosphorus removal; Fluorescence in situ hybridisation; Glucose; Glycogen accumulating organisms; Phosphorus; Polyhydroxyalkanoic acid; Polyphosphates; Propionic acid; Pyruvic acid; Sewage; Substrate specificity
Publisher: Society for General Microbiology
ISSN: 1350-0872
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.2006/001032-0
Peer reviewed