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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2004, p. 6767-6775, Vol. 70, No. 11
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.11.6767-6775.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Bacterial Diversity and Function of Aerobic Granules Engineered in a Sequencing Batch Reactor for Phenol Degradation

He-Long Jiang, Joo-Hwa Tay, Abdul Majid Maszenan, and Stephen Tiong-Lee Tay^*

Environmental Engineering Research Centre, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Received 6 March 2004/ Accepted 7 June 2004

Aerobic granules are self-immobilized aggregates of microorganisms and represent a relatively new form of cell immobilization developed for biological wastewater treatment. In this study, both culture-based and culture-independent techniques were used to investigate the bacterial diversity and function in aerobic phenol- degrading granules cultivated in a sequencing batch reactor. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes demonstrated a major shift in the microbial community as the seed sludge developed into granules. Culture isolation and DGGE assays confirmed the dominance of ß-Proteobacteria and high-G+C gram-positive bacteria in the phenol-degrading aerobic granules. Of the 10 phenol-degrading bacterial strains isolated from the granules, strains PG-01, PG-02, and PG-08 possessed 16S rRNA gene sequences that matched the partial sequences of dominant bands in the DGGE fingerprint belonging to the aerobic granules. The numerical dominance of strain PG-01 was confirmed by isolation, DGGE, and in situ hybridization with a strain-specific probe, and key physiological traits possessed by PG-01 that allowed it to outcompete and dominate other microorganisms within the granules were then identified. This strain could be regarded as a functionally dominant strain and may have contributed significantly to phenol degradation in the granules. On the other hand, strain PG-08 had low specific growth rate and low phenol degradation ability but showed a high propensity to autoaggregate. By analyzing the roles played by these two isolates within the aerobic granules, a functional model of the microbial community within the aerobic granules was proposed. This model has important implications for rationalizing the engineering of ecological systems.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Environmental Engineering Research Centre, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Ave., Singapore 639798. Phone: 65-67904887. Fax: 65-67910676. E-mail: ctltay{at}ntu.edu.sg.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2004, p. 6767-6775, Vol. 70, No. 11
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.11.6767-6775.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Maszenan, A. M., Jiang, H. L., Tay, J.-H., Schumann, P., Kroppenstedt, R. M., Tay, S. T.-L. (2007). Granulicoccus phenolivorans gen. nov., sp. nov., a Gram-positive, phenol-degrading coccus isolated from phenol-degrading aerobic granules. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 57: 730-737 [Abstract] [Full Text]