Showing papers on "Dechloromonas published in 2007"

Electrochemical stimulation of microbial perchlorate reduction.

Abstract: As part of our studies into the diversity of dissimilatory perchlorate reducing bacteria (DPRB) we investigated the reduction of perchlorate in the cathodic chamber of a bioelectrical reactor (BER). Our results demonstrated that washed cells of Dechloromonas and Azospira species readily reduced 90 mg L-1 perchlorate in the BER with 2,6-anthraquinone disulfonate (AQDS) as a mediator. No perchlorate was reduced in the absence of cells or AQDS, or in an open-circuit control. Similar results were observed when a natural microbial community was inoculated into a fed-batch BER. After 70 days of operation, a novel DPRB, strain VDY, was isolated which readily reduced perchlorate in a mediatorless BER. Continuous up-flow BERs (UFBERs) were seeded with active cultures of strain VDY, and perchlorate at a volumetric loading of 60 mg L-1 day-1 was successfully removed. Gas phase analysis indicated that low levels of H2 produced at the cathode surface through electrolysis may mediate this metabolism. The results of the...

Ecology of the Microbial Community Removing Phosphate from Wastewater under Continuously Aerobic Conditions in a Sequencing Batch Reactor

Abstract: All activated sludge systems for removing phosphate microbiologically are configured so the biomass is cycled continuously through alternating anaerobic and aerobic zones. This paper describes a novel aerobic process capable of decreasing the amount of phosphate from 10 to 12 mg P liter(-1) to less than 0.1 mg P liter(-1) (when expressed as phosphorus) over an extended period from two wastewaters with low chemical oxygen demand. One wastewater was synthetic, and the other was a clarified effluent from a conventional activated sludge system. Unlike anaerobic/aerobic enhanced biological phosphate removal (EBPR) processes where the organic substrates and the phosphate are supplied simultaneously to the biomass under anaerobic conditions, in this aerobic process, the addition of acetate, which begins the feed stage, is temporally separated from the addition of phosphate, which begins the famine stage. Conditions for establishing this process in a sequencing batch reactor are detailed, together with a description of the changes in poly-beta-hydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and poly(P) levels in the biomass occurring under the feed and famine regimes, which closely resemble those reported in anaerobic/aerobic EBPR processes. Profiles obtained with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis were very similar for communities fed both wastewaters, and once established, these communities remained stable over prolonged periods of time. 16S rRNA-based clone libraries generated from the two communities were also very similar. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)/microautoradiography and histochemical staining revealed that "Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis" bacteria were the dominant poly(P)-accumulating organisms (PAO) in both communities, with the phenotype expected for PAO. FISH also identified large numbers of betaproteobacterial Dechloromonas and alphaproteobacterial tetrad-forming organisms related to Defluviicoccus in both communities, but while these organisms assimilated acetate and contained intracellular PHA during the feed stages, they never accumulated poly(P) during the cycles, consistent with the phenotype of glycogen-accumulating organisms.

Identification of novel perchloroethene-respiring microorganisms in anoxic river sediment by RNA-based stable isotope probing

Abstract: Summary The halogenated compound tetrachloroethene (perchloroethene, PCE) is a persistent contaminant of aquifers, soils and sediments. Although a number of microorganisms are known to reductively dechlorinate PCE by dehalorespiration, their diversity and community structure especially in pristine environments remain elusive. In this study, we report on the detection of a novel group of dehalorespiring bacteria that reductively dechlorinate PCE to cisdichloroethene by RNA-based stable isotope probing. Pristine river sediment was incubated at 15°C with PCE at low aqueous concentration. Upon formation of dechlorination products, the microbial community was probed with 13 C-labelled acetate as electron donor and carbon source. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of density-separated 16S rRNA revealed a predominantly 13 C-labelled bacterial population only in the microcosm with PCE in high-density gradient fractions, whereas in the control without PCE Bacteriaspecific rRNA was restricted to light gradient fractions. By cloning and sequence analysis of 16S rRNA, the predominant population was identified as a novel group of bacteria within the phylum Chloroflexi. These microorganisms, designated Lahn Cluster (LC), were only distantly related to cultivated dehalorespiring Dehalococcoides spp. (92‐94% sequence identity). Minor clone groups detected 13 C-labelled and thus, potentially involved in PCE dehalorespiration, were related to b-proteobacterial Dechloromonas spp., and d-Proteobacteria (Geobacteraceae, Desulfobacteraceae, Desulfobulbaceae). In contrast, clones from an ethene-producing microcosm incubated at 20°C grouped with known Dehalococcoides spp. Our results show that stable isotope probing allows targeting dehalorespiring bacteria as functional guild, and to identify novel PCE-respiring populations previously not recognized.