Microbial Diversity and Community Structure of Wastewater-Driven Microalgal Biofilms

• Published in: Microorganisms (Basel) 2023-12, Vol.11 (12), p.2994
• Main Authors: Blifernez-Klassen, Olga, Hassa, Julia, Reinecke, Diana L, Busche, Tobias, Klassen, Viktor, Kruse, Olaf
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural wastes; Algae; Algicides; Alternative energy sources; Animal wastes; Aquatic environment; Aquatic microorganisms; Bacteria; Biodiversity; biofilm; Biofilms; Biogas; Biomass; Carbon dioxide; Community structure; Datasets; environmental microbiome structure; Gene sequencing; Genetic testing; Heavy metals; Herbicides; Manures; Metabolism; Metabolites; Microalgae; microalga–bacteria consortia; Microbial activity; microbial biodiversity; Microbial mats; Microbiological research; Microbiomes; Microorganisms; Municipal wastewater; Nitrogen; Nutrient removal; Parasites; Phosphorus; Pig manure; Pollutants; Prokaryotes; Purification; Resource recovery; rRNA 16S; Saprophytes; Sewage; Structure-function relationships; Substrates; taxonomic profiling; Taxonomy; Turf; wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Water treatment
• ISSN: 2076-2607; 2076-2607
• DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11122994

Dwindling water sources increase the need for efficient wastewater treatment. Solar-driven algal turf scrubber (ATS) system may remediate wastewater by supporting the development and growth of periphytic microbiomes that function and interact in a highly dynamic manner through symbiotic interactions. Using ITS and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we profiled the microbial communities of four microbial biofilms from ATS systems operated with municipal wastewater (mWW), diluted cattle and pig manure (CattleM and PigM), and biogas plant effluent supernatant (BGE) in comparison to the initial inocula and the respective wastewater substrates. The wastewater-driven biofilms differed significantly in their biodiversity and structure, exhibiting an inocula-independent but substrate-dependent establishment of the microbial communities. The prokaryotic communities were comparable among themselves and with other microbiomes of aquatic environments and were dominated by metabolically flexible prokaryotes such as nitrifiers, polyphosphate-accumulating and algicide-producing microorganisms, and anoxygenic photoautotrophs. Striking differences occurred in eukaryotic communities: While the mWW biofilm was characterized by high biodiversity and many filamentous (benthic) microalgae, the agricultural wastewater-fed biofilms consisted of less diverse communities with few benthic taxa mainly inhabited by unicellular chlorophytes and saprophytes/parasites. This study advances our understanding of the microbiome structure and function within the ATS-based wastewater treatment process.