Distribution of the Microbial Community Structure in Sulfur-Based Autotrophic Denitrification Columns
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 5
Abstract
Substrate-dependent evolution of a bacterial community capable of transforming nitrate was examined in sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification columns. The 16S rRNA genes and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis revealed that the initial bacterial consortium was well adapted to column operation time and distribution of nitrate concentration. In the lower part of a 200-day operated column where nitrate was introduced, a bacterial strain designated OTU DE-1 was abundant, occupying 92% of the community. The species was identified as Thiobacillus denitrificans with a similarity of 97% by BLAST search. A heterotroph designated as OTU DE-2 showing a similarity of 94% to Cenibacterium arsenoxidans was then enriched in the middle part of the column occupying 82% of the community, indicating the presence of organic electron donors. Interestingly, OTU DE-5 with a similarity of 98% to Chlorobium limicola, which is commonly present in hydrogen sulfide-rich environments, was found in the upper part of the column where sulfate level was high with little nitrate. The microbial community was consistent with observed concentrations of nitrate, nitrite, and sulfate with column height and operation time.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers thank the Research Institute of Engineering Science at Seoul National University for technical assistance. This research was also supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (Grant No. UNSPECIFIED2009-0079618). Additional financial support for this research was also provided by Brain Korea 21 Project (through the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University) in 2009.
References
Ahn, Y., Park, W., Tatavarty, R., and Kim, I. S. (2004). “Comparative analysis of vertical heterogeneity of microbial community in sulfur-packed reactor used for autotrophic nitrate removal.” J. Environ. Sci. Health, Part A: Toxic/Hazard. Subst. Environ. Eng., 39(7), 1805–1818.
Altschul, S. F., Gish, W., Miller, W., Myers, E., and Lipman, D. J. (1990). “Basic local alignment search tool.” J. Mol. Biol., 215, 403–410.
Amann, R. I., Binder, B. J., Olson, R. J., Chisholm, S. W., Devereux, R., and Stahl, D. A. (1990). “Combination of 16S rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes with flow cymetry for analyzing mixed microbial population.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 56(6), 1919–1925.
Batchelor, B., and Lawrence, A. W. (1978). “Autotrophic denitrification using elemental sulfur.” J. Water Pollut. Control Fed., 50(8), 1986–2001.
Felsenstein, J. (1985). “Confidence limits of phylogenies, an approach using the bootstrap.” Evolution (Lawrence, Kans.), 39(4), 783–791.
Field, K. G., Gordon, D., Wright, T., Rappe, M., Urbach, E., Vergin, K., and Giovannoni, S. J. (1997). “Diversity and depth-specific distribution of SAR11 cluster rRNA genes from marine planktonic bacteria.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 63(1), 63–70.
Flere, J. M., and Zhang, T. C. (1999). “Nitrate removal with sulfur-limestone autotrophic denitrification process.” J. Environ. Eng., 125(8), 721–729.
Holt, J. G., Krieg, N. R., Sneath, P. H., Staley, J. T., and Williams, S. T. (1994). Bergey’s manual of determinative bacteriology, 9th Ed., Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore.
Justin, P., and Kelly, D. P. (1978). “Growth kinetics of Thiobacillus denitrificans in anaerobic and aerobic chemostat culture.” J. Gen. Microbiol., 107, 123–130.
Koenig, A., and Liu, L. H. (1996). “Autotrophic denitrification of landfill leachate using elemental sulfur.” Water Sci. Technol., 34(5/6), 469–476.
Koenig, A., and Liu, L. H. (2001a). “Kinetic model of autotrophic denitrification in sulfur packed-bed reactors.” Water Res., 35(8), 1969–1978.
Koenig, A., and Liu, L. H. (2001b). “Microbial aspects of autotrophic denitrification of wastewaters.” Advances in water and wastewater treatment technology, T. Matsuo, K. Hanaki, S. Takizawa, and H. Satoh, eds., Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 217–226.
Koenig, A., and Liu, L. H. (2002). “Use of limestone for pH control in autotrophic denitrification: Continuous flow experiments in pilot-scale packed bed reactors.” J. Biotechnol., 99(2), 161–171.
Koenig, A., Zhang, T., Liu, L. H., and Fang, H. H. P. (2005). “Microbial community and biochemistry process in autosulfurotrophic denitrifying biofilm.” Chemosphere, 58(8), 1041–1047.
Kumar, S., Tomura, K., and Nei, M. (1993). MEGA, molecular evolution genetics analysis, version 10, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
Lane, D. J. (1991). “16S/23S rRNA sequencing.” Nucleic acid techniques in bacterial systematics, E. Stackebrandt and M. Goodfellow, eds., Wiley, New York, 115–175.
Moon, H. S., Ahn, K. -H., Lee, S., Nam, K., and Kim, J. Y. (2004). “Use of autotrophic sulfur-oxidizers to remove nitrate from bank filtrate in a permeable reactive barrier system.” Environ. Pollut., 129(3), 499–507.
Moon, H. S., Nam, K., and Kim, J. Y. (2006). “Initial alkalinity requirement and effect of alkalinity sources in sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification barrier system.” J. Environ. Eng., 132(9), 971–975.
Moon, H. S., Shin, D. Y., Nam, K., and Kim, J. Y. (2008). “A long-term performance test on an autotrophic denitrification column for application as a permeable reactive barrier.” Chemosphere, 73(5), 723–728.
Muyzer, G., De Waal, E. C., and Uitterlinden, A. G. (1993). “Profiling of complex microbial populations by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of polymerase chain reaction-amplified genes coding for 16S rRNA.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 59(3), 695–700.
Muyzer, G., Teske, A., Wirsen, C. O., and Jannasch, H. W. (1995). “Phylogenetic relationships of Thiomicrospira species and their identification in deep-sea hydrothermal vent samples by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S rDNA fragments.” Arch. Microbiol., 164(3), 165–172.
Park, W., Ahn, Y. -H., Jung, K. J., Tatavarty, R., and Kim, I. S. (2005). “Mathematical model of sulfur utilizing autotrophic denitrification in an up-flow packed-bed reactor based on biomass distribution.” Environ. Eng. Res., 10(4), 191–198.
Rocca, C. D., Belgiorno, V., and Meric, S. (2007). “Heterophic/autotrophic denitrification (HAD) of drinking water: Prospective use for permeable reactive barrier.” Desalination, 210(1–3), 194–204.
Saitou, N., and Nei, M. (1987). “The neighbor-joining method, a new method for constructing phylogenetic trees.” Mol. Biol. Evol., 4(4), 406–425.
Sierra-Alvarez, R., Beristain-Cardoso, R., Salazar, M., Gomez, J., Razo-Flores, E., and Field, J. A. (2007). “Chemolithotrophic denitrification with elemental sulfur for groundwater treatment.” Water Res., 41(6), 1253–1262.
Soares, M. I. M. (2000). “Biological denitrification of groundwater.” Water, Air, Soil Pollut., 123(1–4), 183–193.
Timmer-Ten Hoor, A. (1981). “Cell yield and biogenetics of Thiomicrospira denitrificans compared with Thiobacillus denitrificans.” Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 47, 231–243.
van der Hoek, J. P., Hijnen, W. A. M., van Bennekom, C. A., and Mijnarends, B. J. (1992). “Biological nitrate from groundwater by sulfur/limestone denitrification.” J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., 54(2), 197–200.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 5 • May 2010
Pages: 481 - 486
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 13, 2009
Accepted: Oct 21, 2009
Published online: Oct 23, 2009
Published in print: May 2010
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.