Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/88169
Title: Succession of biofilm communities responsible for biofouling of membrane bio-reactors (MBRs)
Authors: Luo, Jinxue
Lv, Pengyi
Zhang, Jinsong
Fane, Anthony Gordon
McDougald, Diane
Rice, Scott A.
Keywords: Biofouling
Biofilms
Issue Date: 2017
Source: Luo, J., Lv, P., Zhang, J., Fane, A. G., McDougald, D., & Rice, S. A. (2017). Succession of biofilm communities responsible for biofouling of membrane bio-reactors (MBRs). PLOS ONE, 12(7), e0179855-.
Series/Report no.: PLOS ONE
Abstract: Biofilm formation is one of the main factors associated with membrane biofouling in membrane bioreactors (MBRs). As such, it is important to identify the responsible organisms to develop targeted strategies to control biofouling. This study investigated the composition and changes in the microbial communities fouling MBR membranes over time and correlated those changes with an increase in transmembrane pressure (TMP). Based on qPCR data, bacteria were the dominant taxa of the biofilm (92.9–98.4%) relative to fungi (1.5–6.9%) and archaea (0.03–0.07%). NMDS analysis indicated that during the initial stages of operation, the biofilm communities were indistinguishable from those found in the sludge. However, the biofilm community significantly diverged from the sludge over time and ultimately showed a unique biofilm profile. This suggested that there was strong selection for a group of organisms that were biofilm specialists. This pattern of succession and selection was correlated with the rapid increase in TMP, where bacteria including Rhodospirillales, Sphingomonadales and Rhizobiales dominated the biofilm at this time. While most of the identified fungal OTUs matched Candida sp., the majority of fungal communities were unclassified by 18S rRNA gene sequencing. Collectively, the data suggests that bacteria, primarily, along with fungi may play an important role in the rapid TMP increase and loss of system performance.
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/88169
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/44582
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179855
Schools: School of Biological Sciences 
Organisations: Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering
Research Centres: Advanced Environmental Biotechnology Centre (AEBC) 
Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute 
Singapore Membrane Technology Centre 
Rights: © 2017 Luo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Fulltext Permission: open
Fulltext Availability: With Fulltext
Appears in Collections:NEWRI Journal Articles
SBS Journal Articles
SCELSE Journal Articles

SCOPUSTM   
Citations 10

38
Updated on Mar 21, 2024

Web of ScienceTM
Citations 10

36
Updated on Oct 26, 2023

Page view(s) 50

588
Updated on Mar 28, 2024

Download(s) 50

111
Updated on Mar 28, 2024

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


Plumx

Items in DR-NTU are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.