Abstract
Phage bacteria interactions can affect structure, dynamics, and function of microbial communities. In the context of biological wastewater treatment (BWT), the presence of phages can alter the efficiency of the treatment process and influence the quality of the treated effluent. The active role of phages in BWT has been demonstrated, but many questions remain unanswered regarding the diversity of phages in these engineered environments, the dynamics of infection, the determination of bacterial hosts, and the impact of their activity in full-scale processes. A deeper understanding of the phage ecology in BWT can lead the improvement of process monitoring and control, promote higher influent quality, and potentiate the use of phages as biocontrol agents. In this review, we highlight suitable methods for studying phages in wastewater adapted from other research fields, provide a critical overview on the current state of knowledge on the effect of phages on structure and function of BWT bacterial communities, and highlight gaps, opportunities, and priority questions to be addressed in future research.
Highlights
Bacteriophages, or phages, i.e., viruses that infect prokaryotic organisms, such as bacteria, play an important role in the ecology and evolution of microbial communities
We review available knowledge on phage ecology in biological wastewater treatment (BWT) (“Phages Identified in BWT Processes”) and identify the gaps and opportunities that should lead future research (“Challenges and Opportunities for Studying Phages in BWT Systems”)
It is still unclear what are the phage-host dynamics in BWT ecology and how significant this impact is on the operation of full-scale communities, e.g., if the affected bacteria would be replaced by other functional organisms or if the development of resistance by the hosts would characterize an arms race of fluctuating-selection model
Summary
Bacteriophages, or phages, i.e., viruses that infect prokaryotic organisms, such as bacteria, play an important role in the ecology and evolution of microbial communities. Phage interaction with prokaryotes can influence the composition (Weinbauer and Rassoulzadegan, 2004; Suttle, 2007), function (Thingstad, 2000; Calero-Cáceres et al, 2019), and evolution (Poullain et al, 2008; Koskella and Brockhurst, 2014) of a microbiome This interaction has been exploited to control microbial growth in environmental, engineered, and medical fields (Nakai and Park, 2002; Lin et al, 2017; Svircev et al, 2018). Phages are approximately 1 to 2 orders of magnitude smaller than bacterial cells, commonly ranging in size from 20 nm to 200 nm, with giant phages measuring up to 600 nm (Holt et al, 1994; Iyer et al, 2021) They have a simple structure, consisting of a protein capsid containing the phage genome, either single- or double-stranded DNA or RNA We review available knowledge on phage ecology in BWT (“Phages Identified in BWT Processes”) and identify the gaps and opportunities that should lead future research (“Challenges and Opportunities for Studying Phages in BWT Systems”)
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