Project description:To understand microbial community functional structures of activated sludge in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the effects of environmental factors on their structure, 12 activated sludge samples were collected from four WWTPs in Beijing. GeoChip 4.2 was used to determine the microbial functional genes involved in a variety of biogeochemical processes. The results showed that, for each gene category, such as egl, amyA, nir, ppx, dsrA sox and benAB, there were a number of microorganisms shared by all 12 samples, suggestive of the presence of a core microbial community in the activated sludge of four WWTPs. Variance partitioning analyses (VPA) showed that a total of 53% of microbial community variation can be explained by wastewater characteristics (25%) and operational parameters (23%), respectively. This study provided an overall picture of microbial community functional structures of activated sludge in WWTPs and discerned the linkages between microbial communities and environmental variables in WWTPs. Four full-scale wastewater treatment systems located in Beijing were investigated. Triplicate samples were collected in each site.
Project description:To understand microbial community functional structures of activated sludge in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the effects of environmental factors on their structure, 12 activated sludge samples were collected from four WWTPs in Beijing. GeoChip 4.2 was used to determine the microbial functional genes involved in a variety of biogeochemical processes. The results showed that, for each gene category, such as egl, amyA, nir, ppx, dsrA sox and benAB, there were a number of microorganisms shared by all 12 samples, suggestive of the presence of a core microbial community in the activated sludge of four WWTPs. Variance partitioning analyses (VPA) showed that a total of 53% of microbial community variation can be explained by wastewater characteristics (25%) and operational parameters (23%), respectively. This study provided an overall picture of microbial community functional structures of activated sludge in WWTPs and discerned the linkages between microbial communities and environmental variables in WWTPs.
Project description:In this study, adult male rainbow darter (Etheostoma caeruleum) were collected from nine sites located at different distances from two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the Grand River, Ontario, Canada. The goal of this project was to see if the liver transcriptome of fish residing downstream of the two WWTPs differs from the non-exposed fish. Further, this research was also addressing the affects of differnent reference site selection on gene expression patterns, and their subsequent interpretation.The RNA from male rainbow darter was exctracted from liver tissue and used for further gene expression analysis.
Project description:The global sanitary crisis derived from antibiotic multi-resistant bacteria entails the need to reduce sulfamethoxazole (SMX) concentrations in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The key microorganisms and the biotransformation mechanisms leading to SMX removal remain incompletely characterized, particularly under aerobic heterotrophic conditions, which are becoming increasingly relevant in the design of novel, more energy-efficient, WWTPs. In this study, sequential batch reactors were inoculated with activated sludge, operated in heterotrophic conditions and spiked with six different initial SMX concentrations ranging between 0 and 2000 µg L-1. The goal was to determine the influence of SMX in the microbiome and its enzymatic expression through genomic, metaproteomic and transformation product analyses. The results allowed us to identify the metabolite 2,4(1H,3H)-pteridinedione-SMX (PtO-SMX), pointing to the role of the pterin-conjugation pathway in the biotransformation of SMX. Additionally, at increased SMX concentrations, through metaproteomics and 16S rRNA gene sequencing, it was determined a higher abundance of the genus Corynebacterium and a differential expression of five enzymes involved in its central metabolism, suggesting the relevant role of this bacteria to mitigate SMX risks.