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Potential coupling effects of ammonia-oxidizing and anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria on completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite biofilm formation induced by the second messenger cyclic diguanylate

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) on the coupling effects between ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) bacteria for the completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite (CANON) biofilm formation in a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR). Analysis of the quantity of EPS and cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) confirmed that the contents of polysaccharides and c-di-GMP were correlated in the AOB sludge, anammox sludge, and CANON biofilm. The anammox sludge secreted more EPS (especially polysaccharides) than AOB with a markedly higher c-di-GMP content, which could be used by the bacteria to regulate the synthesis of exopolysaccharides that are ultimately used as a fixation matrix, for the adhesion of biomass. Indeed, increased intracellular c-di-GMP concentrations in the anammox sludge enhanced the regulation of polysaccharides to promote the adhesion of AOB and formation of the CANON biofilm. Overall, the results of this study provide new comprehensive information regarding the coupling effects of AOB and anammox bacteria for the nitrogen removal process.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21277020) and Ministry of Science and Technology, China (Project No. 2013ZX07202-010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (MOE), School of Environment Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Linggong Road 2, Dalian, 116024, China

    Chao Wang, **aochen Xu, Fenglin Yang & Dong Wang

  2. Department of Environmental Engineering, Peking University, Bei**g, 100871, China

    Sitong Liu

  3. Key Lab of Eco-restoration of Regional Contaminated Environment, Ministry of Education, Shenyang University, Shenyang, 110044, China

    Chuanqi Zhao

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  1. Chao Wang
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  2. Sitong Liu
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  3. **aochen Xu
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  4. Chuanqi Zhao
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  5. Fenglin Yang
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  6. Dong Wang
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Correspondence to **aochen Xu.

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Chao Wang declares that he has no conflict of interest. Sitong Liu declares that she has no conflict of interest. **aochen Xu declares that he has no conflict of interest. Chuanqi Zhao declares that he has no conflict of interest. Fenglin Yang declares that he has no conflict of interest. Dong Wang declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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Wang, C., Liu, S., Xu, X. et al. Potential coupling effects of ammonia-oxidizing and anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria on completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite biofilm formation induced by the second messenger cyclic diguanylate. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 101, 3821–3828 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7981-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7981-y

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