Analysis of biofilm bacterial communities responsible for carbon removal through a reactor cascade treating wastewater

In this study molecular microbiological and multivariate statistical analyses were carried out to determine the structure and dynamics of bacterial communities through a biofilm based, pilot-scale wastewater treatment cascade system comprised of eight reactors. Results indicated a vertical as well as horizontal differentiation of biofilm bacterial communities within individual reactors and through the reactor series, respectively. The richness of biofilm samples taken from dissolved oxygen rich sections of reactors were relatively lower than of samples taken from less oxygenized sections (one-way ANOVA P = 0.07). The Euclidean distance based one-way ANOSIM pointed out that in bacteriological point of view: (1) no statistically significant difference could be observed among the first five reactors (P ≥ 0.1); (2) the first seven reactors differed significantly from the last reactor, (P ≤ 0.03); (3) reactors 1 and 2 differed significantly from reactors 6 and 7 (P ≈ 0.02) and (4) reactor 3 from reactor 7 (P ≈ 0.03). 16S rRNA gene cloning revealed that through the cascade system the initially dominant heterotrophic bacteria (Acinetobacter, Acidovorax, Parabacteroides, Thauera, Desulfobacterium and Desulfomicrobium) were gradually replaced or supplemented by autotrophic nitrifying bacteria (Nitrosomonas, ‘Candidatus Nitrotoga’ and Nitrospira). Our results indicate that the vertical alteration of bacterial community structure within a particular reactor was driven by the alteration of dissolved oxygen concentration, while the horizontal alteration of bacterial community structure through the cascade system was driven mainly by the gradually decreasing dissolved organic matter content and increasing dissolved oxygen concentration.