Succession of biofilm communities responsible for biofouling of membrane bioreactors (MBRs)

Luo, J; Lv, P; Zhang, J; Fane, AG; McDougald, D; Rice, SA

Succession of biofilm communities responsible for biofouling of membrane bioreactors (MBRs)

Luo, J Lv, P Zhang, J Fane, AG McDougald, D

Rice, SA

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: PLoS ONE, 2017, 12 (7)
Issue Date:: 2017-07-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Luo, J	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Lv, P	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Zhang, J	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Fane, AG	en_US
dc.contributor.author	McDougald, D https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5827-8441	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Rice, SA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9486-2343	en_US
dc.date.available	2017-06-05	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-07-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	PLoS ONE, 2017, 12 (7)	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/114720
dc.description.abstract	© 2017 Luo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Biofilm formation is one of the main factors associated with membrane biofouling in membrane bioreactors (MBRs). As such, it is important to identify the responsible organisms to develop targeted strategies to control biofouling. This study investigated the composition and changes in the microbial communities fouling MBR membranes over time and correlated those changes with an increase in transmembrane pressure (TMP). Based on qPCR data, bacteria were the dominant taxa of the biofilm (92.9–98.4%) relative to fungi (1.5–6.9%) and archaea (0.03–0.07%). NMDS analysis indicated that during the initial stages of operation, the biofilm communities were indistinguishable from those found in the sludge. However, the biofilm community significantly diverged from the sludge over time and ultimately showed a unique biofilm profile. This suggested that there was strong selection for a group of organisms that were biofilm specialists. This pattern of succession and selection was correlated with the rapid increase in TMP, where bacteria including Rhodospirillales, Sphingomonadales and Rhizobiales dominated the biofilm at this time. While most of the identified fungal OTUs matched Candida sp., the majority of fungal communities were unclassified by 18S rRNA gene sequencing. Collectively, the data suggests that bacteria, primarily, along with fungi may play an important role in the rapid TMP increase and loss of system performance.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	PLoS ONE	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1371/journal.pone.0179855	en_US
dc.subject.classification	General Science & Technology	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Bacteria	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Biofilms	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Fungi	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Archaea	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Bioreactors	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Sewage	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Waste Disposal, Fluid	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Membrane Potentials	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Pressure	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Biofouling	en_US
dc.title	Succession of biofilm communities responsible for biofouling of membrane bioreactors (MBRs)	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	7	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	12	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - ithree - Institute of Infection, Immunity and Innovation
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	7	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	12	en_US

Abstract:

© 2017 Luo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Biofilm formation is one of the main factors associated with membrane biofouling in membrane bioreactors (MBRs). As such, it is important to identify the responsible organisms to develop targeted strategies to control biofouling. This study investigated the composition and changes in the microbial communities fouling MBR membranes over time and correlated those changes with an increase in transmembrane pressure (TMP). Based on qPCR data, bacteria were the dominant taxa of the biofilm (92.9–98.4%) relative to fungi (1.5–6.9%) and archaea (0.03–0.07%). NMDS analysis indicated that during the initial stages of operation, the biofilm communities were indistinguishable from those found in the sludge. However, the biofilm community significantly diverged from the sludge over time and ultimately showed a unique biofilm profile. This suggested that there was strong selection for a group of organisms that were biofilm specialists. This pattern of succession and selection was correlated with the rapid increase in TMP, where bacteria including Rhodospirillales, Sphingomonadales and Rhizobiales dominated the biofilm at this time. While most of the identified fungal OTUs matched Candida sp., the majority of fungal communities were unclassified by 18S rRNA gene sequencing. Collectively, the data suggests that bacteria, primarily, along with fungi may play an important role in the rapid TMP increase and loss of system performance.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/114720