Abstract
Microbial communities in water resource recovery facilities encompass a large diversity of poorly characterized lineages that could have undescribed process-critical functions. Recently, it was shown that taxa belonging to “Acidobacteriota” are abundant in Danish full-scale activated sludge wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), and here we investigated their diversity, distribution, and functional potential. “Acidobacteriota” taxa were identified using a comprehensive full-length 16S rRNA gene reference dataset and amplicon sequencing surveys across 37 WWTPs. Members of this phylum were diverse, belonging to 14 families, eight of which are completely uncharacterized and lack type strains. Several lineages were abundant, with relative abundances of up to 5% of the microbial community. Genome annotation and metabolic reconstruction of 50 high-quality “Acidobacteriota” metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from 19 WWTPs showed high metabolic diversity and potential involvement in nitrogen and phosphorus removal and iron reduction. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using newly-designed probes revealed cells with diverse morphologies, predominantly located inside activated sludge flocs. FISH in combination with Raman microspectroscopy revealed ecophysiological traits in probe-defined cells from the families Holophagaceae, Thermoanaerobaculaceae, and Vicinamibacteraceae, and families with the placeholder name of midas_f_502, midas_f_973, and midas_f_1548. Members of these lineages had the potential to be polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) as intracellular storage was observed for the key compounds polyphosphate and glycogen.
Highlights
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) with biological nutrient removal have the primary role of removing nutrients and pollutants from wastewater to protect the environment
“Acidobacteriota” populations were widely spread and abundant across all Danish wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in abundances of up to 5% with average read abundances of 0.7–2.9%
We identified 34 novel “Acidobacteriota” species with metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) in this study and have formulated names for the two novel Geothrix species that fulfill the following criteria: a highquality MAG, abundant in several WWTPs, functional annotation as determined by the genome and FISHRaman, and in situ morphology as determined by Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)
Summary
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) with biological nutrient removal have the primary role of removing nutrients and pollutants from wastewater to protect the environment. These systems are increasingly acknowledged as resource recovery facilities with an important role in resource recovery such as clean water, bioenergy, and phosphorus (Nielsen, 2017). Culture-independent studies have recently expanded the number of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), enhancing the available knowledge for the entire phylum in different soil environments (Hausmann et al, 2018; Woodcroft et al, 2018), and providing some insight into the functional potential of a few subdivisions
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
