TY - JOUR
T1 - Operation-driven heterogeneity and overlooked feed-associated populations in global anaerobic digester microbiome
AU - Mei, Ran
AU - Nobu, Masaru K.
AU - Narihiro, Takashi
AU - Kuroda, Kyohei
AU - Muñoz Sierra, Julian
AU - Wu, Zhuoying
AU - Ye, Lin
AU - Lee, Patrick K.H.
AU - Lee, Po Heng
AU - van Lier, Jules B.
AU - McInerney, Michael J.
AU - Kamagata, Yoichi
AU - Liu, Wen Tso
PY - 2017/11/1
Y1 - 2017/11/1
N2 - Anaerobic digester (AD) microbiomes harbor complex, interacting microbial populations to achieve biomass reduction and biogas production, however how they are influenced by operating conditions and feed sludge microorganisms remain unclear. These were addressed by analyzing the microbial communities of 90 full-scale digesters at 51 municipal wastewater treatment plants from five countries. Heterogeneity detected in community structures suggested that no single AD microbiome could be defined. Instead, the AD microbiomes were classified into eight clusters driven by operating conditions (e.g., pretreatment, temperature range, and salinity), whereas geographic location of the digesters did not have significant impacts. Comparing digesters populations with those present in the corresponding feed sludge led to the identification of a hitherto overlooked feed-associated microbial group (i.e., the residue populations). They accounted for up to 21.4% of total sequences in ADs operated at low temperature, presumably due to ineffective digestion, and as low as 0.8% in ADs with pretreatment. Within each cluster, a core microbiome was defined, including methanogens, syntrophic metabolizers, fermenters, and the newly described residue populations. Our work provides insights into the key factors shaping full-scale AD microbiomes in a global scale, and draws attentions to the overlooked residue populations.
AB - Anaerobic digester (AD) microbiomes harbor complex, interacting microbial populations to achieve biomass reduction and biogas production, however how they are influenced by operating conditions and feed sludge microorganisms remain unclear. These were addressed by analyzing the microbial communities of 90 full-scale digesters at 51 municipal wastewater treatment plants from five countries. Heterogeneity detected in community structures suggested that no single AD microbiome could be defined. Instead, the AD microbiomes were classified into eight clusters driven by operating conditions (e.g., pretreatment, temperature range, and salinity), whereas geographic location of the digesters did not have significant impacts. Comparing digesters populations with those present in the corresponding feed sludge led to the identification of a hitherto overlooked feed-associated microbial group (i.e., the residue populations). They accounted for up to 21.4% of total sequences in ADs operated at low temperature, presumably due to ineffective digestion, and as low as 0.8% in ADs with pretreatment. Within each cluster, a core microbiome was defined, including methanogens, syntrophic metabolizers, fermenters, and the newly described residue populations. Our work provides insights into the key factors shaping full-scale AD microbiomes in a global scale, and draws attentions to the overlooked residue populations.
KW - Anaerobic digester
KW - Feed sludge
KW - Microbiome
KW - Operation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85025453820&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:0ee27ef2-e834-4755-9345-681581173b00
U2 - 10.1016/j.watres.2017.07.050
DO - 10.1016/j.watres.2017.07.050
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85025453820
SN - 0043-1354
VL - 124
SP - 77
EP - 84
JO - Water Research
JF - Water Research
ER -