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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 1998, p. 4877-4882, Vol. 64, No. 12
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Assessment of Changes in Microbial Community Structure during
Operation of an Ammonia Biofilter with Molecular Tools
Y.
Sakano and
L.
Kerkhof*
Department of Environmental Sciences and
Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Cook College, Rutgers,
The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey
08903-0231
Received 10 June 1998/Accepted 14 September 1998
Biofiltration has been used for two decades to remove odors and
various volatile organic and inorganic compounds in contaminated off-gas streams. Although biofiltration is widely practiced, there have
been few studies of the bacteria responsible for the removal of air
contaminants in biofilters. In this study, molecular techniques were
used to identify bacteria in a laboratory-scale ammonia biofilter. Both
16S rRNA and ammonia monooxygenase (amoA) genes were used to characterize the heterotrophic and ammonia-oxidizing
bacteria collected from the biofilter during a 102-day experiment. The overall diversity of the heterotrophic microbial population appeared to
decrease by 38% at the end of the experiment. The community structure of the heterotrophic population also shifted from
predominantly members of two subdivisions of the
Proteobacteria (the beta and gamma subdivisions) to
members of one subdivision (the gamma subdivision). An overall decrease
in the diversity of ammonia monooxygenase genes was not observed.
However, a shift from groups dominated by organisms containing
Nitrosomonas-like and Nitrosospira-like amoA genes to groups dominated by organisms containing only
Nitrosospira-like amoA genes was observed. In
addition, a new amoA gene was discovered. This new gene is
the first freshwater amoA gene that is closely affiliated
with Nitrosococcus oceanus and the particulate methane monooxygenase gene from the methane oxidizers belonging to the gamma
subdivision of the Proteobacteria.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of
Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New
Jersey, 71 Dudley Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8521. Phone: (732)
932-6555, ext. 335. Fax: (732) 932-6520. E-mail:
kerkhof{at}ahab.rutgers.edu.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 1998, p. 4877-4882, Vol. 64, No. 12
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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