Journal
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Volume 293, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112947
Keywords
Fouling; Quorum sensing; Anaerobic membrane bioreactor; Low-temperature effect; Immigrant community effect
Categories
Funding
- Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in UK
- Newcastle University UK
- Engineering synthetic microbial communities for biomethane production [BB/K003240/1]
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Quorum sensing, regulated by AHL molecules, affects biofilm formation in bioreactors. This study found that exposure to immigrants, especially at low temperatures, increased AHL levels and fouling in biofilms. The presence of immigrants, low temperature, and denser community structure triggered AHL production and excretion, impacting biofouling control in bioreactors.
Quorum sensing (QS), a microbial communication mechanism modulated by acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) molecules impacts biofilm formation in bioreactors. This study investigated the effects of temperature and immigration on AHL levels and biofouling in anaerobic membrane bioreactors. The hypothesis was that the immigrant microbial community would increase the AHL-mediated QS, thus stimulating biofouling and that low temperatures would exacerbate this. We observed that presence of immigrants, especially when exposed to low temperatures indeed increased AHL concentrations and fouling in the biofilms on the membranes. At low temperature, the concentrations of the main AHLs observed, N-dodecanoyl-L-homoserine lactone and N-decanoyl-Lhomoserine lactone, were significantly higher in the biofilms than in the sludge and correlated significantly with the abundance of immigrant bacteria. Apparently low temperature, immigration and denser community structure in the biofilm stressed the communities, triggering AHL production and excretion. These insights into the social behaviour of reactor communities responding to low temperature and influx of immigrants have implications for biofouling control in bioreactors.
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