Effect of substrate concentration on dual‐species biofilm population densities of Klebsiella oxytoca and Burkholderia cepacia in porous media

Abstract

The long-term operation of bioremediation technologies relies on the success of the contaminant-degrading microorganism(s) to compete for available resources with microorganisms already present in an aquifer or those that may contaminate a bioreactor. Though research has been performed studying the interaction of multiple species in batch and chemostat reactors, little work has been done looking at multi-species interactions in environments that more closely resemble field-scale applications. The research presented herein examined the interaction of Burkholderia cepacia PR1-pTOM(31c), an aerobic trichloroethylene (TCE)-degrading bacterium, with Klebsiella oxytoca, a facultative bacterium, in a flow-through porous media (PM) reactor. Growth characteristics and population distributions in PM were compared to previously reported values from batch and chemostat reactors. The faster growing organism in batch experiments (K. oxytoca) did not always have the greater population density in dual-species PM experiments. The biofilm population distribution was influenced by substrate concentration, with B. cepacia having a greater dual-species population density than K. oxytoca at a low (30 mg/L dissolved organic carbon [DOC]) substrate concentration and K. oxytoca having a greater population density at a high (700 mg/L DOC) substrate concentration. This change in species population distribution with change in substrate concentration, which was not observed in batch reactors, was also observed in chemostat reactors. Therefore, manipulation of substrate concentration enabled the control of species dominance to the advantage of the TCE degrading population in this dual-species PM system and may provide a mechanism to enhance bioremediation scenarios involving TCE or other contaminants of concern.