Occurrence of ammonia-oxidizing Archaea in activated sludges of a laboratory scale reactor and two wastewater treatment plants

Abstract

Aims: Characterization of the ammonia‐oxidizing archaea (AOA) community in activated sludge from a nitrogen removal bioreactor and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Methods and Results: Three primer sets specific for ammonia mono‐oxygenase α‐subunit (amoA) were used to construct clone libraries for activated sludge sample from a nitrogen removal bioreactor. One primer set resulted in strong nonspecific PCR products. The other two clone libraries retrieved both shared and unique AOA amoA sequences. One primer set was chosen to study the AOA communities of activated sludge samples from Shatin and Stanley WWTPs. In total, 18 AOA amoA sequences were recovered and compared to the previous reported sequences. A phylogenetic analysis indicated that sequences found in this study fell into three clusters. Conclusions: Different primers resulted in varied AOA communities from the same sample. The AOA found from Hong Kong WWTPs were closely similar to those from sediment and soil, but distinct from those from activated sludge in other places. A comparison of clone libraries between Shatin WWTP and bioreactor indicated the AOA community significantly shifted only after 30‐day enrichment. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study confirmed the occurrence of AOA in a laboratory scale nitrogen removal bioreactor and Hong Kong WWTPs treating saline or freshwater wastewater. AOA communities found in this study were significantly different from those found in other places. To retrieve diverse AOA communities from environmental samples, a combination of different primers for the amoA gene is needed.

Comparative Analysis of 16S rRNA andamoAGenes from Archaea Selected with Organic and Inorganic Amendments in Enrichment Culture

“…Two additional sequences were recovered from the recyclostat that clustered most closely with amoA gene sequences recovered from activated sludge (e.g., accession no. EU860279 [88]) and a wastewater treatment plant (e.g., accession no. DQ304880), and therefore these are referred to as the "wastewater (WW)" amoA clade ( Fig.…”

Thaumarchaeotes abundant in refinery nitrifying sludges express amoA but are not obligate autotrophic ammonia oxidizers

“…Despite these findings it is still unclear whether all AEA detected in these environments indeed live from autotrophic ammonia oxidation, and their potential role for nitrogen removal in engineered biological systems has not been clarified as yet (26)(27)(28)33). We report an extensive survey of the distribution, abundance, and activity of AEA in diverse WWTPs.…”

“…23). In contrast, there have been very few studies of AEA-the term originally used for amoA-carrying thaumarchaeotes by Dang and colleagues (24,25)-in engineered biological treatment systems (26)(27)(28). When quantitative analyses of AOB and AEA have been conducted in some nitrifying WWTPs, the abundance of AOB has been shown to exceed that of AEA by two to three orders of magnitude.…”

Review on the Fate and Mechanism of Nitrogen Pollutant Removal from Wastewater Using a Biological Filter

“…It has been proved that Archaea played an important role in aerobic nitrification. Archaeal ammonium-oxidizer amoA sequences have been identified in a laboratory-scale reactor [59]. Wang et al [1] investigated the dynamic populations of Archaea in a lab-scale multimedia biofilter.…”