Quantification of Nitrosomonas oligotropha and Nitrospira spp. using competitive polymerase chain reaction in bench scale wastewater treatment reactors operating at different solids retention times

HEBE M. DIONISI; ALICE C. LAYTON; KEVIN ROBINSON; JANALYN R. BROWN; I. R. GREGORY; J. PARKER; GARY S. SAYLER

WATER ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH

Water Environment Federation

Año: 2002 vol. 74 p. 462 - 469

1061-4303

The effect of solids retention time (SRT) on ammonia and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria was measured by Nitrosomonas oligotropha-like ammonia monooxygenase A and Nitrospira 16S rDNA competitive polymerase chain reaction assays in a complete-mix, bench-scale, activated-sludge system. During steady-state operation, nitrification was complete in the 20- and 10-day SRT reactors, nearly complete in the 5- day SRT reactor, and incomplete in the 2-day SRT reactor (76% ammonia oxidation and 85% nitrite oxidation). Total microbes, measured by dot-blot hybridizations, ranged from 3 _ 1011 to 3 _ 1012 cells/L, and increased with increasing SRTs. The concentration of the ammonia-oxidizer N. oligotropha dropped 100-fold from the 20-day SRT (5 _ 109 cells/L) to the 2-day SRT (_4 _ 107 cells/L). Thus, N. oligotropha became a much smaller fraction of the total biomass in the poorly performing 2-day SRT reactor. The concentration of Nitrospira cells also decreased (10-fold) as the SRT was reduced from 20 days to 2 days. However, the number of Nitrospira cells was always greater than the number of N. oligotropha cells measured in each reactor (10- to 60-fold). While Nitrospira comprised 1 to 2% of the biomass, N. oligotropha represented only 0.04 to 0.27% of the total population. This low percentage suggests that N. oligotropha was not a dominant ammonia oxidizer in the bench-scale systems. Water Environ. Res., 74, 462 (2002).